My FL102S (yes, I re-acquired it - parting with it was too painful) had been bugging me for a while - a prior owner had drilled the dewshield and installed a DC adapter into it and fitted a niChrome wire dew heater around the objective cell. Practical, certainly, but I am weird about originality (comes from years of being a restorer of old firearms etc).
I thought about fixes and solutions, but patching a 2mm thick curved aluminium dew shield was not going to work to my expectations - and would cost a bit.
So, i contacted EVERYONE I knew in the Vixen arena looking for one. I found a correct diameter one, but it was shorter, and fully baffle grooved internally - seems it came off one of Vixen's odd-ball astrograph projects (NOT the DED108SS) - I still have it, may find a use one day.
Anyway, cutting to the chase, William Ng in Hong Kong said he should be able to find one. Well, today, he did! Absolutely brand new never used OEM. Total price, including EMS delivery to me - $80 Aussie (the postage was almost as much as the dew shield!).
There's another piece of the puzzle solved, and I can take her back to stock-standard again. Will keep the "adapted" one as a spare.
ANYWAY, just had to share. A nothing story, but I just love it when things finally come together.
