Recovering the Skin on my M5

Nokton48

Nokton48

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Hi All,

Morgan Sparks from Cameraleather.com shipped my new M5 "skin", and it arrived today. It's CHARCOAL GRIPTAC, and it's -really- cool looking and, feeling! So, hot as it is out in my garage/workshop, I took M5 out, for a new "skin".

It takes time to get the original vulcanite off, I spent several hours doing the rear door, and the left rear back, which was missing a big piece. The Paint Stripper does the job (eventually) with a lot a rubbing from angled chopstick. And, -lots- of paper towels to clean up the mess! It looks great after all that work, I'm really pleased. I imagine several more "sessions" to get the rest of it off, and "prepped" nicely. I have done quite a few of my cameras with Morgan's skins, he offers help if I need it, which is good. He recommends "WET" application of the Griptac, with the M5. And, remove the left hand strap lug, for the installation part. Stay tuned.......
 
I just order the Black Grip Tac for my M2 and Kiev 2 1957 from Morgan.

How long did it take to get and I would be interested in seeing before and after pictures if you have any to show?

Both cameras need to be re Covered so I am excited to do this with these cameras.

Leo
 
Hi Leo,
Been out in the garage, trying to get the back side of M5 finished tonight. Everything fully cleaned off, and put the Charcoal Griptac on the M5 Rear Door. Don't scrape it with your chopstick, it will mar the Grip-Tac, I think. I started to do this, then -stopped-. The adhesive is super-strong, this stuff will be difficult to remove. It should be absolutely fantastic on an M2, I would think. I might do mine, later. BTW smells -very- rubbery!

I requested Priority shipping, and got it three days from ordering it. Not bad at all. Here's M5, scroll down to see the auction pix (and the vulcanite damage!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180254064283
 
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Stop it!

Bigfoot & Bubba are mumbling and grumbling and whining about being orphaned step children with no new clothes.
 
A treat for Bigfoot & Bubba

A treat for Bigfoot & Bubba

visiondr said:
To match your boots, eh? 😀
Click to expand...

Great idea. One in kangaroo and the other in ostrich. I hope they don't fight over the choices. 😎

Wait. Would I have to wear one boot from each pair so I match the cameras? 😱
 
Thanks for the tip, JNewell. Good to hear you like Griptac, too. 😀🙂🙂😀 Gotta pick up some Purell, and some fine Artist's brushes, before I continue on, to M5's front panel. And I think I'll use toothpaste to mark the front screws, as Morgan recommends. Hopefully M5 will be completely stripped and prepped by the end of the weekend. That M5 vulcanite is really thick stuff :bang:
 
GripTac rocks!! 😀 I have it on both my M8 (for sale now) and MP, and love it - completely different handling, cool post-industrial look - highly recommended! 😀
 
Wayne,
Actually, my favorite SRT Minolta is clad in Morgan's Green Kangaroo skin. After three years, it has held up well, like it -very- much. Bigfoot and Bubba can fight over it, it's probably, just sibling rivelry.
 
I finally got my digicam to download images to my computer, so here's my new M5 GRIPTAC skin from Morgan Sparks:
 
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And I'm proceeding today, here's M5 out in the workshop, (minus left-hand strap lug) getting the initial application of stripper, to the end piece of vulcanite. It takes at least several hours (and several thick applications of stripper) to break the vulcanite down sufficently, so that it can be scraped off with chopstick:
 
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Here's another view, as I progress to the left front of M5. This is a slow, messy job. So far, so good:
 
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I'm -very- careful 🙄🙄🙄 😱😱😱

Actually having the 90 Summicron on there, gives me something to grab onto, while I muscle off the vulcanite. Pretty tough stuff to get off :bang::bang::bang:

The trick is to go slowly, and proceed in stages. Once I get the left side finished, I'll apply the GripTac to that side. The rear door is already done. Then, I'm going to leave it alone for awhile. Probably reload it with XX, and take it out for more shooting. 😀😀😀
 
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