[ATM] Tough as Tile, Quik-Tubes

[mikell at optonline.net (Michael Lindner)]

On Saturday 31 January 2004 09:47 pm, Torquil MacCorkle, III wrote:
> I have an 8", 48" long Quik-tube...

I used exactly the same tub for my 6". Here's what I did (which was very easy 
to do):

I evaporated the coating off the lining by holding the tube over a gas grill . 
You can see the inside get dull looking when the wax leaves it, then turn to 
cook off a different area until the whole tube is done. I then painted the 
inside with flat black gas grill paint (a theme developing :-).

I painted the ends and edges of the focuser hole with TiteBond II glue diluted 
with a little water, using a small paintbrush.

I put one coat of primer on the outside (which in retrospect I probably didn't 
need to do), then covered the wholething with a layer of Ultrakote model 
plane covering. I got the idea from another list member. Ultrakote (aka 
monokote) is a plastic material that irons on. This stuff is great! For about 
15 minutes' time investment, I got a tube that looks like I put 10 coats of 
paint on it.

The scope is now 6 years old,and going strong. My 12 year old son is using it 
to go for a Messier certificate.

Clear skies.
-- 
Michael Lindner
http://www.starastronomy.org *** http://home.att.net/~mikel
http://www.atmsite.org *** http://www.atmlist.net