I also took out the optics in the 8" when traveling. They traveled in a
clear plastic case. That was fortunate since the inspector in Costa Rica
did not know what the mirror is. I have now labeled the box in Spanish.
Steve Gottlieb also carried his 13" mirror carry on.
Albert seems like he is going to leave his mirror in the checked luggage. I
will be interested to see how that works out.
My box was swiped for explosives at least once. I don't remember anyone
looking inside. There was a paper in the top of the case explaining what the
contents were. The scope traveled in a solid Atlas Case that could take a
lot of punishment. With the main mirror out most of what was left was wood
and packing foam. The secondary mirror was well protected and I used a
secondary hood instead of just relying on silicone being strong enough.
I was interested in the mid scope ring that Albert introduced. One problem
with my string scope is that when you tension the strings (really aircraft
wire) it bends the supporting poles. This particularly occurs at the mid
pole joint. It would be difficult to introduce a ring into my current
design since there are only two poles. It does give me some thoughts about
what would be possible should I rebuild the scope.
Rob Hawley
Received on Sun Mar 20 11:04:46 2005