Newbie Design help

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Patrick Bloofon by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <transactoid-at-home-dot-com>

Howdy everybody, I"m getting excited about building my first tesla coil. I've
been going through those 12 NSTs I picked up, and so far 6 out of 6 tested have
worked. I'm guessing the rest will work too. I'm pretty proud of this find!
 
Anyway, I've been doing LOTS of reading, and it's really hard to "absorb" all
the information and sort of....-dot-combine it..into a coherent idea of how to
build my coil. So here's what I'm thinking:
 
Input: 15kv, 30ma NST.
 
Primary: 50' of 1/4" dia copper tubing, spaced 1/4" apart on 30 degree incline.
 
Will this be long enough? Is the thickness opitmal? Is the spacing adequate to
prevent arcing between turns? I've read that an inverted cone shape increases
coupling, so is it worth it?
 
Secondary: 4.5" diameter, 24" long winding of #24-guage magnet wire
 
Again, would this be the "optimal" design?
 
Caps: Saltwater caps - need some help here - how many?
 
Spark Gap: some help here too - I'm thinking of the Richard Quick style, though
not inside a tube. That is, just layed out flat. How many copper tube pieces,
and how far apart should they be?
 
Safety Gap: Just nuts and bolts such that I can adjust the length.
 
Toroid: Again, no idea. Need some input here.
 
So how does all this sound? Obviously, I want to optimize my design for the
given NST. I'd like it to be upgradable too, as I have lots of NSTs I could run
together.
 
Thanks a lot!
Patrick