vrgard
Well-known
Okay, I just finished recovering my 1957 Leica M3 with one of the Aki Asahi leatherette covers. Wow, I am so happy with the way it turned out. Looks great and even feels better than before.
I wouldn't have bothered with this project in the first place except for the fact that a dime size piece of the original vulcanite just popped off the camera about a month after I bought it last fall. That missing piece, which of course was right on the top front, just keep staring at me saying "whatcha gonna do about it, huh?... neener, neener, neener..." 😛
So, after reading others' praise for Aki Asahi's covers, I ordered one. I also read a couple of webpages about the process of removing the old vulcanite and installing the new cover. Looked fairly straightforward to me. But man, it took way longer than I expected to carefully remove all of the old vulcanite and residue from the old, dried out glue. Took me over two hours just to do that part!
So, I finally get all the old stuff off and think I still have a bit of a project ahead of me to install the new cover. But it is so well cut and matched so perfectly to the dimensions of my camera, it goes on in nothing flat! It literally took me no more than 10 minutes to do and I was taking my time, being very precise to align things properly and then carefully pressed down on the new covering literally all over the camera to make sure it was adhering everywhere.
Now my M3 looks 'almost' like new again. The new covering is a very close match to the old vulcanite. But it feels better. I hadn't realize how hard the dried out vulcanite felt until I put this new cover on. It's not that the new cover is much thicker or heavier or spongy or anything, but it does feel slightly softer and provides just a bit more of a 'grip' that makes holding the camera even more enjoyable than before.
Okay, so it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to do this. But boy was it worth it. Thanks Aki Asahi and thanks to those rff members who previously posted about their positive experiences doing this.
And, of course, I realize that others have previously posted basically the same message, but I thought it might be helpful to someone just starting to think about, or maybe on the fence about, recovering their own camera. All I can say is if you can muster a bit of patience, you can do it and it'll be well worth it.
Thanks for reading this long post and letting me share my happiness with my 'new' old camera. 😀
-Randy
P.S. I know, why don't I post a picture so others can see, right? No need because mine now looks just like the one on Aki Asahi's website (http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/html/M3_buddha/index.php) so all you have to do is look there! 😛
I wouldn't have bothered with this project in the first place except for the fact that a dime size piece of the original vulcanite just popped off the camera about a month after I bought it last fall. That missing piece, which of course was right on the top front, just keep staring at me saying "whatcha gonna do about it, huh?... neener, neener, neener..." 😛
So, after reading others' praise for Aki Asahi's covers, I ordered one. I also read a couple of webpages about the process of removing the old vulcanite and installing the new cover. Looked fairly straightforward to me. But man, it took way longer than I expected to carefully remove all of the old vulcanite and residue from the old, dried out glue. Took me over two hours just to do that part!
So, I finally get all the old stuff off and think I still have a bit of a project ahead of me to install the new cover. But it is so well cut and matched so perfectly to the dimensions of my camera, it goes on in nothing flat! It literally took me no more than 10 minutes to do and I was taking my time, being very precise to align things properly and then carefully pressed down on the new covering literally all over the camera to make sure it was adhering everywhere.
Now my M3 looks 'almost' like new again. The new covering is a very close match to the old vulcanite. But it feels better. I hadn't realize how hard the dried out vulcanite felt until I put this new cover on. It's not that the new cover is much thicker or heavier or spongy or anything, but it does feel slightly softer and provides just a bit more of a 'grip' that makes holding the camera even more enjoyable than before.
Okay, so it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to do this. But boy was it worth it. Thanks Aki Asahi and thanks to those rff members who previously posted about their positive experiences doing this.
And, of course, I realize that others have previously posted basically the same message, but I thought it might be helpful to someone just starting to think about, or maybe on the fence about, recovering their own camera. All I can say is if you can muster a bit of patience, you can do it and it'll be well worth it.
Thanks for reading this long post and letting me share my happiness with my 'new' old camera. 😀
-Randy
P.S. I know, why don't I post a picture so others can see, right? No need because mine now looks just like the one on Aki Asahi's website (http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/html/M3_buddha/index.php) so all you have to do is look there! 😛
