Thanks Gary, (and thanks for nothing Ving!
) I think I'm going to try and ignore it for a while then eventually take the disassembled OTA to a painter to get it re-finished (and then I'll flock it as well).. for now I've coated the worst areas with CRC in a lame attempt to slow it down a bit, kind of a bummer considering I've had the scope only 3 months and it is stored next to a de-humidifier (ie always dries very quickly when I bring it in).. Antares in the USA have the right idea, although they're still GSO scopes they have seamless aluminium OTAs.