I got a great deal on a used 8 inch Dobsonian. The only downside was serious water damage, all the missing parts, and a mirror that looked like something evil happened on it. This gross telescope sat in a very nice townhouse living room for years (according to the seller). At some point in time, a bird expired in it, leaving residue (see photos). I thought the mirror was trashed, which is the most expensive part of a telescope. The outside of the telescope had some type of moist purple goo on it when I bought it, but it eventually dried clear. This little fixit project ballooned into a major restoration project. So I ended up doing the following: 1) A professional slow cleaning of the mirror. 2) Fabricated an entire new lower disk for the mount (and learned that contact cement will melt vinyl shelf paper). 3) Installed a new eyepiece holder and re-purposed two used eyepieces. 4) Installed a new viewfinder. 5) De-rusted the bolts and painted over with black epoxy paint.…