Super Nettel, tapes and bumps

[Dralowid]

Well, it is closer to a Contax than anything else so I thought I'd post here.

I'm well inside my truly awful Super Nettel having finally undone some of the most stubborn screws...

Both tapes broken. Have sourced some 'similar' material but have no clue as to length. Any ideas?

My other question is about Zeiss bumps. I remember this having been discussed before. Having removed the leather and cleaned up the camera did someone suggest soaking the leather? And in what?

All advice welcome. It is a lovely little camera in truly awful condition...my plan is simply to make it work and tidy it up a bit...

Michael

 

[ZorkiKat]

Aki-asahi have ribbons for Leica type shutters which fit the Contax type roller shutters. The 3mm width fits the shutter slots properly. You'd need about 12cm for each side, including some rebates that go into the folded ends.

However, Aki-asahi are not accepting overseas orders for now. You may have to wait a bit. Their tape material is worth waiting for.

 

[dexdog]

Not sure about soaking the leather - the recommended practice to prevent the zeiss bumps from reappearing is to paint the rivets under the bumps with lacquer or other substances to prevent the reaction of the rivets with the chemicals in the leather. I have used both nail polish and shellac successfully on Contax II bodies.

 

[sevo]

Not sure about soaking the leather - the recommended practice to prevent the zeiss bumps from reappearing is to paint the rivets under the bumps with lacquer or other substances to prevent the reaction of the rivets with the chemicals in the leather. I have used both nail polish and shellac successfully on Contax II bodies.

Acetate (which most nail polish is made of) and shellac are period material, but they are acidic or decompose to acids, which are a main factor in the genesis of Zeiss bumps.

I'd use a modern polymer metal varnish like Incralac to seal the rivets permanently - once you accomplish that, you can stick to period materials like shellac to glue the leather. If you want to do it all in old technology available at the time of manufacture, a (bake cured) oil paint layer or hard (Carnauba) wax should do as well.

 

[dexdog]

thanks sevo, I will remember that if I have to repair any more zeiss bumps. Is polymer metal varnish similar to polyurethane?

 

[sevo]

PU varnishes should do fine - there are acrylate and epoxy based ones as well, indeed pretty much any modern varnish sold to keep polished brass (door knobs etc.) from oxidizing will do.

Even acetate is not that bad a choice really, it should already last for many decades - if they had originally acetate covered the rivets rather than directly putting shellac over them, Zeiss bumps would be a rare phenomenon today. But there are even better varnishes beyond that, which will never turn into the first failure point on the camera, and it is not really that much more of an effort to use them.

 

[Dralowid]

Thanks all, remedial work in progress. I intend to keep the original leather to preserve logos etc.

Broken spring now found in speed setting mechanism below advance knob. I think I'll be trawling my Kiev scrapyard for bits tonight!

Michael