1968 Edmond Scientific Super Space Conqueror 6" Restoration

[steve-munsey]

Ok so this is just going to be a quick story with some pics someone might be interested in looking at, reading.

This is a story about how I bought in (1983) a 1968 Edmond Scientific Super Space Conqueror Telescope, Sold it in 1988 and bought it back and "restored" it.

Stay tuned.

[steve-munsey]

It's 1984, 4 years earlier my father sold his 10" Cave Optical Reflector to purchase a dual 5.25 floppy drive and controller set up for our Apple home computer. I was pretty interested in the computer however I must admit although I loved looking through the scope the computer was the next big thing. So just by chance I'm looking through the Green Sheet (Before Craigslist and ebay we used a paper type medium to buy and sell stuff to each other) I saw a 6" reflector for sale and thought I like to get into that hobby again since I enjoyed it so much as a kid. Drove for about an hour, bought it for $300.00 which was kinda pricey for a 16 year old scope but it did have a clock drive on it so I could take some pics with it. Well to wrap this up I did in fact buy it kept it for several years and when it came time to go to college sold it to a friends dad for $300.00. Around 2012 I happened to ask about the scope and sure enough he still had it. I pretty much hounded him for the next 2 years until he finally sold it back for 100.00 in mid 2014 and in pieces.
Well it was pretty rough so I started to clean it up and get it presentable stay tuned:


First night I got it home I assembled it checked over what condition everything was in. Luckily the optics were taken out and stored in boxes(Thank you Larry , the mount however wasn't so lucky.

[steve-fung]

Steve,

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a fun project - something my dad and I used to do fixing up old stuff. Now, I'm just lucky to get some time off to look through a scope. Keep us posted on its progress. Looking forward to seeing it in action when it's completed.

Steve

[steve-munsey]

Next Disassembly, sandblast and clean all parts.

Before sandblasting


After


Before


After


Repeat until all parts are done or you cant stand eating anymore blasting sand
I highly recommend a cabinet type sand/media blaster.Make sure not to blast any of the bearing surfaces.

I found some VHT Wrinkle finish paint that simulates the original finish pretty close.
High temp for extreme solar viewing sessions!

[steve-munsey]

Got everything painted and assembled. Unfortunately I lost some of the in between photos but heres the Mount ready to go.
After a few weeks of tweaking and enjoying the scope, I am going to strip the Optical Tube Assembly, Clean, Fix Holes and paint.
I'll post here as I progress.

[steve-munsey]

People have been emailing to ask the part number on the VHT Wrinkle Paint here is THE BLACK IS SP201, THE GRAY IS SP205

Here is a vintage advertisement for the scope from the late 60's

[steve-fung]

Very nice, professional finish! Your different shades of gray and black reminds me of painting model airplanes as a kid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[steve-munsey]

Thanks Steve. I build Plastic Models too LOL I'm kinda partial to German WWI and WWII.

[steve-munsey]

Hello all,

I am about to start restoring the optical tube part of the scope. If anyone has a finder scope and rings that are correct for this scope (and would like to donate/sell).
please message me or post here.
Thank you in advance