New Smell

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Ok .. most of us have experienced New Car smell and from another thread New Book (Print) smell. Is there such an experience as New Telescope smell ... can you olfactory senses distinguish between a New Takahashi to say a New Astro-Physics.

Does it bring back memories of your first scope?

[pgc hunter]

The smell of my Vixen 130mm newt and ST80 refractors really take me back to a simpler time.

[Hodur (David)]

Clearly we’re describing a first world phenomenon, on the face of it could be construed as harsh, however…… At this moment in time, the shadow of material shortages and serious inflation on the near horizon this is the time to be buying goods.
Over the next two years, or more everything is going to become more difficult to procure and it’s going to become more expensive, driving the marginal price of secondhand goods upwards and new goods skyward
If nothing more, this is a good excuse for SWMBO. All jests aside things aren’t good on the supply side, now is a good time to buy and enjoy that new scope smell.
My dream scope smell, 130mm Reflector

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I did have a new scope smell after I assembled my GSO dobs. As you probably know the base comes as a flatpack which you screw together. The problem I foresaw is that the cut edges of the particleboard which will not be seen aren't sealed and sooner or later - actually sooner - they will absorb water, swell and disintegrate. So I first painted all bare edges with wood glue to bond them, then applied several coats of exterior paint. Finally, after I assembled it, I sealed every join with a good bead of silastic. The result was a sturdy, durable base which only smelt for a month or two. [Some might say that the optics stink but it's kept me happy ]

PS. Yes I know new car smell but only in a work vehicle. Back in the day I smelt a lot of new text books, some even smelt untouched when I gave them away decades later .

[bojan]

The smell of pigeon poo at the Zagreb's Astronomical Observatory..

Good old times :-)

[LewisM]

Honestly, yes. Tak black paint has a distinctive aroma. Very noticeable.

Skywatcher has a weird grease smell of the telescopes and mounts.

Never noticed/notice any aroma with Vixen or AstroPhysics.

William Optics have a distinctive phosphorous like pong to their anodising.

And having restored an Intes Mak, removing 20 layers of bullet proof enamel to get down to another layer of aerospace grade green zinc chromate aluminium primer is fun for all the senses

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

removing 20 layers of bullet proof enamel to get down to another layer of aerospace grade green zinc chromate aluminium primer is fun for all the senses