My first coil

["Paul Benham" <Paulb-at-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>)]

I am looking towards building my first coil.  I have looked at various
web sites and the archives on pupman, as well as ordering a couple of
books and some software.  Some questions:-

I have a 900Va.c. 0.5A transformer.  This requires too much capacitance,
but should I contemplate building with this as a cheap start, with less
capacitance, or am I wasting my time.

I have thought about a 1" diameter secondary as a start, or should I
think about a 2" Secondary(I only have a small garage).  My worry is I
will build something which will not spark at low enough power inputs,
and I believe that both sizes will take about the same amount of time to
build.

Does anyone know of anywhere in the U.K where I can get an NST on the
cheap, or a good supplier of Polycarb caps that I can use to make a
MMC?  I have looked at RS/Farnell, but they do not seem to have anything
suitable.

Are there many people in the U.K. coiling?

Thanks in advance,

Paul.