I have found a lot of materials are marked up as much as 300% in the telescope shops. If you can find the source and stores they regularly market through, then there will probably be a great savings. I am compling info for a book but I don`t have that source yet. Yeah I tend to be cheap too. But then I really do give more than I get.

The more oversized the tube the less baffles. In some train and hobby shops they have this course felt like material that is used for grass in life scale modeling. It comes in green of course but maybe it can be ordered in black or painted lightly with flat black. That should work better than the flocked paper and I believe costs a lot less. It should age and weather much better too. I have some just haven`t applied it yet.

Good Luck,
-Rick