Thanks Matt and Scott,
Well I took the plunge and did my first collimation. Made my own collimating cap out of cardboard! But after about 2+ hours and in the very end with the g/f's help, got the job done. The holding clips on the primary are all visible, the secondary is dead centre in the primary and the focus target dead centre in the secondary (reflection). All tightened up and so hopefully only minor tweaks will be needed on th primary in future.
The secondary was slightly out when I started (using a white piece of paper n the opposite to the focusser, it appeared as though a slightly less than a full moon and one of the primary mirror holding clips was not visible). Wow was I scared, especially when the centre screw to the holding frame of the secondary was really tight. Thought I was going to snap something off.
Anyway, took ages, absolutely ages to get the secondary resetbut I got the confidence to understand what was happening eventually and so it was less about being freaked out at breaking something, more about patience and time.
Primary was relatively easy after the initial ordeal.
Soafter all that pain and agony, clouds
Of course!
Lesson - put the Telescope on a table else you will need to find a paint tin and a cushion to get the job done! Haha.
Thanks to all the suggestions on the various threads in these forums, nks to videos etc. now just to check it out and see how much things have improved, fingers crossed.
Also, am hoping to pick up a TMB 6mm off the classifieds. Of all I have, should give me a good useful magnification with good solid optics and without breaking the bank. It was fantastic 'seeing' the other night, even without relevant experience I know that.
Oh, and yes and letting the scope cool down to outside ambient temperatures, have seen the effect of atmosphere, especially at high mag on the moon.
Anyway, will report in again soon. Thanks again for all the help and support.
Raj