Who likes Olympus Pen F half frame SLRs?

Just for fun, I had two Pen Fs apart today. I have one good one but it's viewfinder is dirty, one with a dirty finder and the film take-up spool is really stiff (film will tear rather than rewind as it is so hard to turn), and one jammed solid parts camera.
So I too the parts camera apart first as there was nothing to lose. Got the top and bottom off, removed and cleaned a mirror under the top housing, and cleaned the surfaces of two prisms I could get at (to get at their other sides would have meant a much bigger job). Got it back together, but had to re-solder the flash sync connection as I was careless taking the top off. Result: viewfinder markedly improved, but of course the camera is still broken.
Moved onto the stiff one. Used a drop of lighter fluid at each end of the film take-up spool and it became much easier to turn. Could have done that without undoing anything, but I decided to do the same thing on the viewfinder as before. Didn't really make much improvement there, perhaps the dirt is on the surfaces I can't get at. Kept the flash wire attached this time, and managed to re-assemble and all is working.
I don't think I'm brave enough to do the one good working model (with the dirty finder), or maybe I'll practice again on the parts camera and get a bit deeper into the prisms first.
 
I'd like to do something like that viewfinder cleaning with one of my "good but very dirty" Retina IIc cameras, but I'm too chicken. The guys in Portland will do a complete, professional CLA service for a modest price: I'll leave that job to them. :)

G
 
In regard to cleaning superimposed rangefinder/viewfinders one has to be very careful of, not only the first surface mirror but especially of the half mirror glass. Too easy to damage a half aluminized mirror while trying to clean it.
 
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