Here is the major fly in the ointment, at least for now. Looking down on both stands without viewing heads from above, Boris on the left, new stand on the right:
Here the circular plate is removed from the new stand:
This is not the typical LOMO dovetail, my spare viewing heads to not fit this, with the plate in place or removed.
The stock POLAM has an intermediate tube mounted here with the accouterments for the analyzer and whatnot, and the viewing head mounts on top of that. You can see that the whole mount is different on each scope one from the other. My challenge is to either make an adapter to allow my heads to fit or find the intermediate tube. Since I have over stretched my spending budget already for a while I'll be considering the adapter route. I realize that I will have to be mindful of preserving the tube length.
I would be glad of any comments and/or suggestions.
CE