Posts Made By: Karl Augenstein

Try www.foamrubber.com.

They are located in Boston, MA and will precut sheet in various thickness to fit your cases. I use their "ester" foam which does not out gas.

I second John's analysis. I also live in Southern New England and can count on "one finger" the nights where the atmosphere was steady enough to fully utilize my 14.5" Starmaster (Zambuto mirror/high strehl). I've tried to star test it several times, but pretty much gave up on that years ago.

On the other hand I used to own a TAK FS 128 and the 5" aperture seemed to "fit" our skies more frequently especially for planetary detail. I thinking seriously of looking for another good 5" refractor.

Takahashi used to make a ring spcifically for the FS-78 and the Televue mounts.

Call Art Ciampi at Texas Nautical.

I've owned 2 FS-78's. The finder is ordered "a la carte" if I remember correctly. The first one came with the 6x30 and was probably considered more of the standard. The second with the 7x50.

For what it's worth, the TAK 7x50 finder is light years ahead of most in this size.

if it's a clear night, Ninigret Observatory in Charlestown, RI is open every Friday night.  Usually a few private scopes set up as well as the 16 inch Meade in the Dome.