Here's the thing. I took a punt a couple of years ago and got this 90mm f/11 Vixen Custom on the net. OK, it didn't look good in the ad but I thought
that'll clean up alright, or something. Well - when it got here, I saw it needed
way more attention than expected. Drawtube stuck, focuser shaft bent, focuser knobs broken, spiders made a home in the scratched tube, chipped and decollimated objective part of whose coating the previous owner had cleaned off, etc etc. A sad picture really. I made a half-assed effort to get it going again. The focuser can now be used for focussing but is still stiff (the felt I used is too thick I think), the doublet is closer to collimation now after I replaced the 2 remaining foil shims and the missing third with sticky tape ones (not ideal, I know). It produces an image, and the clamshell chip isn't all that big. But it's still out by some margin according to the Tak collimating scope, and shimming is the only way to adjust it unfortunately. I've tried to clean up the tube but it still looks a bit battered.
The plan was to have a refractor specifically to use here at home by the beach (the environment is too harsh for the FC76) but some time last year I decided to
blow it, I'm getting the 4" f/11 ED that Teleskop Service now sell. A beautiful scope that one. Anyway, so here we are. What the Vixen really needs now is someone who appreciates its pedigree or lack thereof, some work to make the focuser smoother, and possibly a new objective like
this one. Not a huge cost, and potentially some nice, long fl achro views on offer. I'll include the adaptor that allows 1.25" eyepieces to be used.
The catch is, the scope is in Dunedin NZ so "free" really only applies to the scope itself, postage to be covered by receiver please.
Any interest?