The Fullerscopes MkIV.

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Basic restoration of the Fullerscopes MkIV: I stared at the fuzzy images of the Fullerscopes MkIV in their catalogues for years. The catalogues never changed much but they were free until much later on when they used to send only a poorly illustrated price list to enquirers.


When the MkIV packages arrived in Denmark just before lunch I did a hasty assembly before going back to work. Having owned the MkIII for some time I was very impressed by the sheer size and weight of the MkIV as it sat on my el cheapo collapsible workbench. The 6" bronze wormwheels looked huge and the 1.25" shafts added enough gravitas to make it quite a difficult lift even without counterweights. I was delighted to finally own one despite the obvious need for a face-lift. Restoration would be half the fun even if it occasionally interrupted observing.


At this time I had yet to discover a source for black wrinkle paint so it looked like Hammerite was the best option. I stripped the layers of old paint off and as it wasn't very warm outside I pre-warmed the castings in the greenhouse prior to applying Hammerite's own special primer.


I was looking for a more modern appearance at first instead of the dowdy black gloss. The light blue Hammerite I tried first was too awful for words! So it was back to the shop for some dark blue after much discussion with the Head Gardener. I value my wife's insight in matters of taste. These are the castings painted in the dark blue, hammer finish drying in the sunshine. It seems I had also upgraded my folding workbench by this time.

The colour darkens over time and I think you will agree that it looks rather smart in an understated way. The tiny counterweights were supposed to allow my little Vixen 90mm refractor to sit on the mounting but it was total overkill and there was a little too much friction.

Here's a before and after image of the brass motor cans. I simply chucked them from the inside in the 3 Jaw chuck in my lathe and then polished with ultra fine abrasive paper then lacquered them. Quite an improvement I think.

The tarnished setting circles were also re-polished in the lathe using home made emery sticks and then silvered and lacquered using antique clock dial silvering methods.