In praise of CRR (M3 Porn)

edodo said:
maybe someone will know how to make a clean black baked enamel finish and wich paint to choose from.
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The only ones I know of are automotive paints, which are best applied with a compressor/sprayer. Same with laquers.

Getting a smooth even coat on something as small and detailed is an art with those things. You don't want too thick a layer that would fill in all the engraving... but you want it thick enough to bake evenly and protect the brass...

it's not going to be easy.
 
The DIY hammertone paints tend to be tough and hard wearing. The gloss paints much less so. Baking will help but you are still likely to get a fair amout of chipping and wear. To get the durability, you really need industrial paints which need special precautions in use.

Kim
 
Thats what I thought, so there is no black paint applied with porc hair brush that can blend perfectly when baked?
 
Don't want to hijack this thread but if anyone has info about DIY black enameling leica that would be nice!
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Charles.
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You can do it yourself, but it's not a simple procedure.

You need to take your M apart and need the proper tools to do so. You can buy them from Micro-tools. The asa dial on the rear door is a PIA to remove. You need to drill out the rivets and then apply new ones, when you put everything back together. The windows in the top plate are glued in and held in place by some thing metal clasps. If I remember correctly the glue can be dissolved with hot water, but don't crack the glass from the heat! Keep the exposed body in a sealed plastic zip lock bag, with most of the air sucked out so the lubricants don't dry up.

You will need instructions to take the camera apart. Some of the screws turn clockwise, others anti-clockwise. If I remember correctly the one around the film advance does not unscrew as you may expect it to. If you force too hard you could damage the gears.

Next the chrome and nickel have to be stripped from the brass parts. You can't do this with sandpaper. Check reference pictures of real black paint M bodies. I believe Leica kept some of thsoe parts chrome, due to the high wear on them. Note that some M4-P, all but very few M6/ttl cameras are magnesium and can't be repainted. A good place to get the camera stripped is www.acmeplating.com

Finally you need to paint it, which is not as simple as it sounds. I highly doubt that the spray can jobs look good close up. You have next to no control with a can and the paint can get really thick, which looks like crap. A good paint job is applied in layers with an airbrush. If you really wanted to go nuts you could polish each layer like the Japanese do. 20 coats later it should look stellar.

Then you need to bake the parts and reassemble the camera.
 
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I am impressed, very impressed, especially because generally I don't care much about Leica but yours is really a sweetheart and made me drool! Enjoy this good company!

One question: what sort of lens is that? Did Pentax made lenses for the Leica M system?
 
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Superb!

For reference here is my Shintaro M3 which he painted for me in 2000. Not a great photo as I had to use a point and shoot digital. Looking closely at your porn it appears more of a matte finish as someone pointed out in a prior post.

blackm3.jpg


That's my iPhone out of focus behind the camera. I've hacked it so the camera shutter sound is that of an M6. :)
 
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The Lens is one of the Pentax 43mm F1.7 Ltd lenses with similar optics to the SLR version. They did it in both black and chrome and it is LTM. It was sold with a dedicted 43/50 finder.

Kim

on
darkkavenger said:
I am impressed, very impressed, especially because generally I don't care much about Leica but yours is really a sweetheart and made me drool! Enjoy this good company!

One question: what sort of lens is that? Did Pentax made lenses for the Leica M system?
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