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David
The A12 you show is one to walk away from.  The best thing about an A12 is its compactness.  You can tuck the case away in the car or the bedroom and nobody will notice it.  You can take it anywhere. The A12 you show has been in someone’s damp shed or attack for 75 years.  The case is in a very poor state.  The steel bits are almost rusted through in place, and the whole thing is what my mother would have called ‘foisty’.  The sextant itself doesn’t look too smart either.  The aluminium alloy is starting to go in places, and the daylight window has gone very yellow.  Your chances of using it immediately at night are zero.  It needs a good clean and a bubble light rigging up.  You can poke a heavily dimmed led torch up that hole.  Wrap paper round as a shim, but a bit like a sailing dinghy centreboard, leave enough sticking out of the hole to get the torch out again.  My scale light doesn’t follow the Perspex light-guide very well.  I wouldn’t attempt to poke a torch up that hole.  The original lighting was meant for young eyes. You’re best off relying on a red led torch.  If you use a separated disc for each star, you can get the readings later by lining up the pencil marks.  You can do much better than the one shown for $295NZ.  Alternatively, go for a reconditioned one.  I wouldn’t pay more than $60NZ for the one shown on the gamble that the two bubble chambers might be redeemable.  I'm afraid I’ve tortured mine over the years. DaveP