poortmanc
Established
Hi Leica III series fans,
In this thread I'll try to show you the resurruction of my IIIf.
Some of you won't like what I've done, which I can understand because it isn't original (and normally I'm someone who likes to keep things/restore things to their original condition). Anyhow, I think it's worth it considering it's going to be a user-camera.
I bought the IIIf used from a woman whose husband had passed away. She couldn't confirm that the camera was working, so I got a good deal out of it, under the condition that I'd revive it and use it myself. The lens is fine, but the camera itself has seen better days. The rangefinder was hazy, lacking contrast, the viewfinder was extremely dusty, the plastic trim on the viewfinder was missing, the shutter speeds were way off (and the 1-25 dial wasn't working at all) - and there was a massive dent in the top left corner.
On the plus side: the vulcanite was in good condition and the curtains seemed to have been replaced before!
A closeup of the big dent
After recently repairing a Minolta SRT series camera, I was confident that I could do this job.
After disassembling the top, bottom and outer shell - I started cleaning every part using alcohol. I increased the spring tension on the shutter button and curtain brake release - which made sure the 2nd curtain was closing again when the slow-speed dial and B-setting were being used.
The next step was to adjust the curtain tension. I checked the shutter speeds by placing my Xpro2 in front of the curtains, making sure the ISO and aperture were set correctly for the shutter speed I needed to check. I set the Xpro2 on a 1s exposure and made sure that the seal between the lens and the LTM mount was light-tight and made several exposures. Fiddled a bit with the tension of the curtains until the exposure was correct and even, which I checked with all available shutter speeds on the Leica.
Next up was the rangefinder adjustment. Cleaning and aligning was a piece of cake using instructions found on YouTube. I did notice that the beamsplitter was in a bad shape, so I ordered a new one, which is on its way now from Japan. I'll write another post when I have replaced it.
Then came the tricky part: removing the old chrome coating (without any chemicals), hammering out the dent and painting the upper shell, the bottom plate and several screws.
I made a small wooden mallet to hammer out the dent. This took quite some time but the result was acceptable. The same was done for the retaining ring which is placed around the rangefinder windows.
I then sanded all the parts down until bare brass. This was followed by a good cleanup and some silver solder where I removed the dent, to reinforce the structure.
After dent removal
Silver solder to strengthen the corner
Painting was done with Humbrol satin black model enamel paint. I experimented on a piece of old brass which I had laying around, to check what kind of technique I should use to create a durable, hard wearing coat.
At the end I painted the parts using an airbrush with satin black enamel paint which was followed by a very thin coat of satin enamel clear coat. I then placed the parts in an oven for 2 hours on 200C. This created an extremely hard layer of paint, which is impossible to flake off and seems to be super hard!
Satin black enamel followed by satin black clear coat
The engravings were filled with white enamel paint, and baked again in the oven. It does seem that the white paint get a light brown haze over it after baking, but it's acceptable.
Filling the engravings with white paint
The end result is in my opinion beautiful. For sure, time will show how the paint wears down, but for the present moment it seems to hold up excellently.
The plastic part around the rangefinder/viewfinder was missing, so I designed my own and printed it on a 3D printer https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4837310
Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the whole process, but I wanted to share my experiences with all of you anyhow.
Cheers!
In this thread I'll try to show you the resurruction of my IIIf.
Some of you won't like what I've done, which I can understand because it isn't original (and normally I'm someone who likes to keep things/restore things to their original condition). Anyhow, I think it's worth it considering it's going to be a user-camera.
I bought the IIIf used from a woman whose husband had passed away. She couldn't confirm that the camera was working, so I got a good deal out of it, under the condition that I'd revive it and use it myself. The lens is fine, but the camera itself has seen better days. The rangefinder was hazy, lacking contrast, the viewfinder was extremely dusty, the plastic trim on the viewfinder was missing, the shutter speeds were way off (and the 1-25 dial wasn't working at all) - and there was a massive dent in the top left corner.
On the plus side: the vulcanite was in good condition and the curtains seemed to have been replaced before!
A closeup of the big dent
After recently repairing a Minolta SRT series camera, I was confident that I could do this job.
After disassembling the top, bottom and outer shell - I started cleaning every part using alcohol. I increased the spring tension on the shutter button and curtain brake release - which made sure the 2nd curtain was closing again when the slow-speed dial and B-setting were being used.
The next step was to adjust the curtain tension. I checked the shutter speeds by placing my Xpro2 in front of the curtains, making sure the ISO and aperture were set correctly for the shutter speed I needed to check. I set the Xpro2 on a 1s exposure and made sure that the seal between the lens and the LTM mount was light-tight and made several exposures. Fiddled a bit with the tension of the curtains until the exposure was correct and even, which I checked with all available shutter speeds on the Leica.
Next up was the rangefinder adjustment. Cleaning and aligning was a piece of cake using instructions found on YouTube. I did notice that the beamsplitter was in a bad shape, so I ordered a new one, which is on its way now from Japan. I'll write another post when I have replaced it.
Then came the tricky part: removing the old chrome coating (without any chemicals), hammering out the dent and painting the upper shell, the bottom plate and several screws.
I made a small wooden mallet to hammer out the dent. This took quite some time but the result was acceptable. The same was done for the retaining ring which is placed around the rangefinder windows.
I then sanded all the parts down until bare brass. This was followed by a good cleanup and some silver solder where I removed the dent, to reinforce the structure.
After dent removal
Silver solder to strengthen the corner
Painting was done with Humbrol satin black model enamel paint. I experimented on a piece of old brass which I had laying around, to check what kind of technique I should use to create a durable, hard wearing coat.
At the end I painted the parts using an airbrush with satin black enamel paint which was followed by a very thin coat of satin enamel clear coat. I then placed the parts in an oven for 2 hours on 200C. This created an extremely hard layer of paint, which is impossible to flake off and seems to be super hard!
Satin black enamel followed by satin black clear coat
The engravings were filled with white enamel paint, and baked again in the oven. It does seem that the white paint get a light brown haze over it after baking, but it's acceptable.
Filling the engravings with white paint
The end result is in my opinion beautiful. For sure, time will show how the paint wears down, but for the present moment it seems to hold up excellently.
The plastic part around the rangefinder/viewfinder was missing, so I designed my own and printed it on a 3D printer https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4837310
Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the whole process, but I wanted to share my experiences with all of you anyhow.
Cheers!
Horatio
Masked photographer
Nicely done. Congrats.
charjohncarter
Veteran
I like it.
JohnWolf
Well-known
Mr_Flibble
In Tabulas Argenteas Refero
If it had been a particularly rare model with provenance to someone important it would've been another matter.
In this case, if you paid for it, you can do to it WHATEVER you want.
Looks very nice.
Though personally I might have kept the RF-bezels in chrome to off-set the black a bit more (like on my RLM-gray re-painted IIIc-Sync)
In this case, if you paid for it, you can do to it WHATEVER you want.
Looks very nice.
Though personally I might have kept the RF-bezels in chrome to off-set the black a bit more (like on my RLM-gray re-painted IIIc-Sync)
Ambro51
Collector/Photographer
The tad off white of the lettering looks Far better than some of the brilliant white I’ve seen on paint jobs. Those edges though will brass to chrome eventually, not a good look. But sounds like you know your paints and done good work.
poortmanc
Established
Many thanks!
The edges should brass to ehm, brass. I didn't take a picture of it, but I've sanded it all down to the bare brass prior to painting.
Most interesting will be to see how this paint will wear down..
well done!
Franko
Established
I used to get a nice black lacquer called "Scalecoat." It was used to paint brass locomotive models and was reputed to offer better resistance to handling than other paints. Baked, it was plenty tough enough, especially with a clear dullcoat layer baked on. If your enamel does not hold up, it's not hard to strip model paints and start fresh.
Your IIIf really looks nice - good work.
Your IIIf really looks nice - good work.
farlymac
PF McFarland
Very nice work, Christiaan. I would only differ in doing the sync numbers in red.
PF
PF
poortmanc
Established
Thanks! I think I read about the scalecoat paint somewhere. Maybe it was a post made by you?
And you're right about the dullcoat layer. I did the same and this really made a difference in the final finish!
Thank you very much! I was thinking about doing them in red as well, as this was an original RD IIIf, but I was afraid it was too dark..