Converted-to-Black-Paint Leica M's, show 'em here!

[nobbylon]

Dechroming is a straight forward reverse electrolysis process. I use a car battery charger. The next step involves a sulphur heated bath to remove the nickel. Caswell plating have the chemicals you need.
I've used mainly military arms paint as it's durable and thin. This can be bought in the USA easily over the counter in gunsmiths. I used a model airbrush with compressor.
The hardest part is to not fill the engravings. I scribe out the paint after each coat.
I always used paint stripper to remove the engraving paint before de chrome/nickel to give the deepest engravings possible.
I've noticed some vendors selling BP cameras that have only had the top and bottom plates back to brass and the other parts only back to nickel. These cameras will eventually look awful and to me this is only doing half a job. If you are buying make sure you ask if everything was taken back to brass.
Back door ASA dials are a pita and need to be drilled off and after painting re attached with new rivets or tiny self tap screws.
Inlays can be redone with paint sticks from micro tools.
Just like painting cars, bikes etc, preparation is the key to a nice end finish. Dents need to be knocked out first and all nicks dressed so that the first few coats of paint can be flatted to obtain the best end finish. Start to finish used to take me an average of 50-60 man hours to get the results I wanted.
A few of my paints are on here,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87456154@N00/

 

[nobbylon]

Wow, those look fantastic. Do you also re-vulcanise the grip?

I used to use aki asahi whenever I needed to replace the body cover but I always tried to keep the original.

 

[rolfe]

I used to use aki asahi whenever I needed to replace the body cover but I always tried to keep the original.

John,

Are you still doing black paint jobs?

Rolfe

 

[nobbylon]

You have lots of company among painters, but why do you remove the nickel?

What kind of primer do you use to isolate the brass?

The Nikon rangefinders all used a black nickel base for their painted bodies, it's application technique one of the ways of identifying original paint.

I remove the nickel so that the camera will brass. You don't see original BP cameras with nickel underneath the paint. Well, M2 and M3 anyway. I never used primer, no need. The brass is cleaned with alcohol after preparation and then painted. Heating the parts opens up the metal allowing the paint to adhere and really bond. I've tried the primer method a few years back but it never worked great and the paint just chipped off. The way I do them, the only way to get the paint off is to sand blast or emery paper it off.

 

[splitimageview]

The biggest pain is prepping the brass after removing the nickel. The parts have what is called 'smut' after chemical nickel removal (yes, that's a technical term) and it's a real PITA to remove. The best way is via bead blasting, which results in a nearly perfect surface for paint adhesion. I have painted in the neighborhood of 100 or so Ms and other cameras. A few were done with lacquer so they would brass, but most were done with a very robust semi matte black which is pretty much guaranteed not to wear off. Which begs the question, why bother removing the nickel when it's a big chemical mess followed by tedious bead blasting, if the camera is never actually going to 'brass?' The paint adheres to the nickel extremely well. The cameras I painted were not designed to closely match the look of original black enamel, so brassing ultimately was deemed irrelevant. There are cameras in the field coming up on 8 years now and they look just as they did when completed. One is listed on ebay as we speak...

Regarding vulcanite, I posted this a few weeks ago, but the closest match to replacement vulcanite that I've ever seen is this. A USA vendor and reasonably priced:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2599587&postcount=9

The M2 I just finished actually had the parts painted about 6 years ago. The parts were stripped to brass on this one. The paint is extremely tough; even the lugs and the end bolts are painted black. It has the hugostudio vulcanite.

 

[nobbylon]

The biggest pain is prepping the brass after removing the nickel. The parts have what is called 'smut' after chemical nickel removal (yes, that's a technical term) and it's a real PITA to remove. The best way is via bead blasting, which results in a nearly perfect surface for paint adhesion. I have painted in the neighborhood of 100 or so Ms and other cameras. A few were done with lacquer so they would brass, but most were done with a very robust semi matte black which is pretty much guaranteed not to wear off. Which begs the question, why bother removing the nickel when it's a big chemical mess followed by tedious bead blasting, if the camera is never actually going to 'brass?' The paint adheres to the nickel extremely well. The cameras I painted were not designed to closely match the look of original black enamel, so brassing ultimately was deemed irrelevant. There are cameras in the field coming up on 8 years now and they look just as they did when completed. One is listed on ebay as we speak...

Regarding vulcanite, I posted this a few weeks ago, but the closest match to replacement vulcanite that I've ever seen is this. A USA vendor and reasonably priced:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2599587&postcount=9

The M2 I just finished actually had the parts painted about 6 years ago. The parts were stripped to brass on this one. The paint is extremely tough; even the lugs and the end bolts are painted black. It has the hugostudio vulcanite.

Dare I say it? the whole point of a BP Leica is that it shows brass when it wears, implying that that the owner has used it alot!l
Nobody wants to see nickel when the paint wears off!

 

[splitimageview]

To each his own. I painted many that will brass but most people preferred the semi matte finish that doesn't show fingerprints and actually stays black, as opposed to the soft enamel, or black chrome that only looks great when brand new.

See the part where I mentioned the paint doesn't wear off. 🙂

 

[jc48375]

Thank your for the leads for the dechroming paint source; I will check them out and get back to you should I have more questions.

Dechroming is a straight forward reverse electrolysis process. I use a car battery charger. The next step involves a sulphur heated bath to remove the nickel. Caswell plating have the chemicals you need.
I've used mainly military arms paint as it's durable and thin. This can be bought in the USA easily over the counter in gunsmiths. I used a model airbrush with compressor.
The hardest part is to not fill the engravings. I scribe out the paint after each coat.
I always used paint stripper to remove the engraving paint before de chrome/nickel to give the deepest engravings possible.
I've noticed some vendors selling BP cameras that have only had the top and bottom plates back to brass and the other parts only back to nickel. These cameras will eventually look awful and to me this is only doing half a job. If you are buying make sure you ask if everything was taken back to brass.
Back door ASA dials are a pita and need to be drilled off and after painting re attached with new rivets or tiny self tap screws.
Inlays can be redone with paint sticks from micro tools.
Just like painting cars, bikes etc, preparation is the key to a nice end finish. Dents need to be knocked out first and all nicks dressed so that the first few coats of paint can be flatted to obtain the best end finish. Start to finish used to take me an average of 50-60 man hours to get the results I wanted.
A few of my paints are on here,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87456154@N00/

 

[Fraser]

I must have painted my M2 at least five years ago but could be nearer ten, its aged quite nicely.
16fbpicM2blackpainted_01 by f4saregreat!, on Flickr

 

[jmilkins]

Dare I say it? the whole point of a BP Leica is that it shows brass when it wears, implying that that the owner has used it alot!l
Nobody wants to see nickel when the paint wears off!

That's the rub - I bought John's last repaint M2 precisely because it will share and show my life's journey.

Insert shakey camera phone image:

[/url]Go wide by john m, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[jmilkins]

[/url]Leica M2 black repaint & Summilux 35mm 1.4 PreAsph by john m, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[splitimageview]

That's the rub - I bought John's last repaint M2 precisely because it will share and show my life's journey.

Where's the brass journey??

😎

 

[EZfan]

Here's my personal M3 painted in piano-liked finish 🙂

 

[splitimageview]

Beauty!


...

 

[jmilkins]

Where's the brass journey??

😎

Fair point! Only had it for a few months, so I got time.
Have to say, there are some real beauties here, brassed and pristine.

 

[DanskDynamit]

do you guys know where to send my M3 for a pain job here in Europe?
thanks!

 

[giganova]

Lovely cameras! I am thinking about getting a beat-up M3 or M4, leave the dials chrome but get the rest painted in black.

I assume car body shops could do that, no? 😕

 

[jnclde]

1961 Black Paint Leica M2 w/ 40mm M-Rokkor f2

Untitled by Jean Claude Araque, on Flickr

 

[wjlapier]

Lovely cameras! I am thinking about getting a beat-up M3 or M4, leave the dials chrome but get the rest painted in black.

I assume car body shops could do that, no? 😕

Something like this?

 

[rolfe]

So, who is actually still doing repaints -- either in the USA or Europe?

Rolfe