Yep......same scope. The tube is made from rolled steel painted gloss white on the outside. The tube had quite a few dents and scrapes and really needed refinishing. I contemplated repainting it but I have wanted to try this technique I have read about where you cover the tube in the cloth of your choice and then cover with clear finish.
I first knocked the dents out as best I could then sanded the gloss white paint exterior to provide for better glue adhesion. I then used a specialist spray on glue that promised to stick fabric to metal. I found it needed a minimum of 4 hands to apply the fabric to the tube.
Once the fabric is in place it then needs to be covered with protective covering. In this case I am using Estapol (turps cleanup). I have now applied 3 coats of matt finish Estapol without sanding. I did not sand between coats as I was concerned about going through the thin layer of Estapol and contacting the cloth. Now that I have 3 layers in place I try some light sanding this afternoon and if all OK, apply 2-3 layers of high gloss Estapol, sanding between coats.
Why am I doing this?
1. I have wanted to try this technique for a while.
2. I wanted this scope to look appealing and interesting.
3. This finish should be more robust than enamel paint on steel.
4. This external finish, combined with internal flocking should slightly insulate the steel and so reduce the potential for "super cooling" and therefore primary mirror fogging. I still remember this happened to me with my new Tasco in its first night out ( and regularly after that) on a cold September night in the Victorian Central Highlands 30+ years ago......I thought it was broken!!
5. It fun!!
You could using this technique make it look like a patch work quilt, might go well with Mikes scrapbooking Ooops don't want to give his wife any ideas, he might end up with quite a colourful 10" scope on a quite colourful EQ platform hehehe. Seriously though, this is similar to using fibreglass I would assume, would make quite an interesting looking telescope. So wheres the pics
I've always found that apart from the mount, it's a suprisingly nice telescope to look through.
Not surprising A lot of the Tasco reflectors sold in the 80's were made by Vixen in Japan, as were a lot of the Celestron reflectors. Change the mount and focuser, stick in a decent eyepiece and they are a very good telescope.
CS-John B
PS: Vixen and Towa Optical (Japan) produced a lot of optics for Tasco in the late 1970's and 1980's. These products are of very good quality, including some of the small refractors, reflectors and binoculars.
Rocker box and ground board fabricated. Lazy susan azimuth bearing not yet attached. Colour will be blue with silver trim. Whole thing is just under 1 metre high when pointed at the zenith.
Andrew, altitude bearings are 150mm PVC pipe endcaps. BTW, I like your motorised dob, really nice.
Twokids, the tube is held in by friction. The box dimensions provide for a tight fit with the tube. You cannot slide the tube into the box, you have to assemble the box around the tube. In this case the box separates into 2 halves that are held together with screws.
1. GEM removed from scope and retired.
2. Replacement dob mount fabricated from scrap timber, 300mm lazy susan bearing for the azimuth bearing and 150mm PVC pipe endcaps riding on felt floor protectors for the altitude bearing.
3. Tasco optical finder retired and replaced by a red dot finder from Andrews Coms.
4. 0.965" focuser replaced with a spare 1.25" Celestron unit. Focuser body and drawtube both shortened 10-15mm to provide correct focuser travel.
5, Tasco optical tube interior flocked and baffled. All exposed nuts/bolts, secondary spider etc blackened.
6. Tube exterior covered with patterned cloth and coated in clear gloss finish.
7. Tube end rings repainted.
8. Optics cleaned and recollimated.
9. Old attache case fitted with cut packing foam to hold star charts and 4 WA LER eyepieces.
Weather has been unsuitable for observing. What little star testing I have done indicates it should be quite suitable for beginer use.
Eyepiece height/angle is OK for seated adult use. Sub teenage kids could use standing.
Just got back inside from the first decent observing session with this little scope.
Seeing was only just average. Reasonable transparency. Mag 5 visible naked eye @ zenith. Mossies were ferocious!
Mirror is spherical with a little astigmatisim. I used all eyepieces 20/15/9/6mm (45-150X)
Trapezium, A-E visible, F hinted only. Pleasing views of surrounding nebulosity.
Eta Carina, Homunculus hinted only. Pleasing views of surrounding nebulosity. I was surprised I could not see the Homunculus more clearly.
Saturn, a bit low in the sky, Cassini division clearly visible, several cloud bands hinted only.
PN (2438) in M46, Pleasing views of M46 and M47. PN visible with averted vision no filter.
The dob mount gived reasonably smooth and balanced motions in both altitude and azimuth. The lazy susan altitude bearing does allow a little vibration when focusing, however I found this acceptable at 150X.
At 100X and up you certainly notice the spherical mirror when trying to achieve focus. I got the impression 150X is about the limit for this mirror.
In summary, quite acceptable performance for a new starter. Should be a good scope for kids at public viewing nights and a suitable hire scope for CAS.
Looks like a nice little Dob there Ian, like the texture on the tube!
Was your impressions of a limit of 150x due to the mirror or seeing conditions on the night?
I ask this as I've used my 4mm (225x) on Jupiter on good seeing nights with some surprising detail showing up.
Here's a couple pics of my red Tasco 114mm (4.5") reflector ...
Thanks again for the comments guys. It has been a fun job and I am really pleased with the result. Didn't take too long (probably 6-8 hours total work, tops) and I got to try out a new tube finishing technique. If I have to refurb another steel tube scope I would use the same technique again. I suspect it is more robust than standard gloss enamel paint and I hope it will assist with thermal issues.
Interesting question about limiting magnification Stargazer. I admit I was probably being a little premature.
In my defence, weak though it may be , I did find a significant drop off in image quality when stepping from 100X to 150X and I felt this image quality step was greater than could be justified by the seeing. When you combine this with a spherical mirror @ F7.8 and an accepted reasonable limit of 50X/inch for a parabolised mirror, I made an assumption that the 6mm eyepiece was about it.
Gee I like your motorised focuser on the red 4.5" Tasco............wow! At least I think that's what it is. I guess you need that to focus @ 450X
There must have been a factory somewhere in Japan that churned out a zillion of these scopes in the 70's and 80's, both red and white. I do like to look of your red scope Stargazer, the next solid tube scope I do will be metalic deep red with gold trim .
I suspect that if these scopes had come out with a reasonable dob mount as opposed to the "wobbletronic" they would probably have a better reputation as they do appear to be quite OK as a basic scope. I certainly recall becoming very frustrated with the mount on mine all those years ago.
For a small scope using generic Chinese eyepieces, I was impressed with its performance on the limited DSO work I gave it. Seemed to show quite good contrast with various emission nebulae and open clusters showed a nice dark background between the stars. If the weather is OK I will probably take it to the CAS DSN tomorrow night just for fun just to see what it is like under a dark sky.
BTW, just for fun I have attached an couple of images of the other small CAS scope I refurbished a while ago. This one has been out on almost continuous hire since it went back "on line", I haven't seen it for the last 6 months, I just hope the focuser hasn't fallen to bits yet. Note the signature on the underside of the tube saddle!
Ooops don't want to give his wife any ideas, he might end up with quite a colourful 10" scope on a quite colourful EQ platform hehehe. Seriously though, this is similar to using fibreglass I would assume, would make quite an interesting looking telescope. So wheres the pics 
Easily seen M104 and Comet Hyakutake (8 days after discovery) Not a very good planet scope though.
