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I have been following your thread brian, I think if you go with the silver coated mirror you will indefinately run into problems. aka are you willing and prepared to recoat the mirror all the time? and finding somebody who still has the old tools and methods for coating mirrors as they do it in a cirtain way which i belive is with a vaccume.
For me if i was trying to replicate what the views could have been like i would try and match the telescope. That is
find out what the light gathering power for a 18" mirror with 67% reflectivity is.
then work out what a equivilent mirror would be capable of, i belive they are upto mid 90% relfectivity nowdays.
also doing some quick calculations the F number of that scope is 13.3, which would indicate that your looking at a catadiatropic style aka SCT or a Maksutof.
Thats how i would do it, but do remember that light pollution, atmospherics and the like will be different. and unless you had the telescopes side by side you couldn't 100% know that you have the same setup/conditions!
IMHO, building a replica will cost some serious type of $$$ and also the knowledge behind how to make it unless you are very skilled and have access to some good gear. ide go with a retail scope that matches the specs of the old school scope.
Brendan
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