Zorki C "Green Day" Continued

[Adam-T]

A Green Day (Pure Dookie)

If anyone remembers, I bought a "Rare Green Zorki C" from E-Bay which turned out to be a painted Zorki C which was indeed Rarer than the average C as it`s a Festival model made in 1957, the seller indeed did sell me a rare camera but not for the reason he thought . The paint was British racing green and inside and out (and so thick that I`m sure that it was adding to the mount to body distance!!) -

My Chemical Romance (Nitromors to the Rescue)

I had plenty of suggestions on how to strip the body and didn`t think that for one minute that the Vulcanite would survive so thought "what the hell" and took Nitromors to it expecting to have to re-cover the body anyway (and get another shell later to restore this festival C to original) .. as it happens even as I was brushing the stuff on, the green was coming off, so with plenty of water inbetween thin coats of Nitromors, I`ve got it all off and the Vulcanite is intact 🙂

Welcome to the Black Parade (Coming soon)

See the attached pics of the stripped body - It was obvious that the thing wasn`t green originally as there`s a scratch on the metalwork which was just painted over.. I`ve got some fast dry Enamel paint of the "Plastikote" brand to paint it with unless anyone has a better suggestion but this green C is soon to be black again 🙂

How it looked before

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36249&d=1163680919

 

[gb hill]

Now that ya got it stripprd down, have ya thought about putting strap lugs on it?

 

[Kim Coxon]

Plasticote works but chips very easily. You would be better off with baked car spray or a high quality enamel.

Kim

 

[Screwy]

Nice work Adam , As Kim says use a decent enamel paint .



Paul

 

[Adam-T]

The plastikote I bought Claims to be a fast dry Enamel and I`d certainly want to spray it on whatver it is, I always used to use car paint for everything but it`s not very tough unless loads of coats were applied. if this Plastikote enamel isn`t proper enamel, I`ll get some proper stuff, thanks 🙂

As for Strap lugs, i`d rather keep the thing original and I have the ERC anyway 😉

 

[Kim Coxon]

The trouble with the Plasticote is twofold. It doesn't "bake" well and so remains slightly soft. It is also very thick. It's fine for spraying furniture and stuff but not for detail work. Think of the green stuff you took off. 😉

If you use the car spray type paint, use the red oxide primer followed by satin black and finish off with a clear laquer. It lasts quite well as long as you bake it. Failing that use a fine pigment "modelling" enamel. I would still use this over the car type red oxide primer whivh has very good "sticktion" and bonds well with the base.

Kim

 

[Adam-T]

Thanks Kim . I`ll go the car paint route as it`s a familiar one (except the Baking of course), just never thought I`d have to use it on a camera ;-)

 

[Adam-T]

Well it`s black again and all in one piece 🙂 .. I used Red primer and gloss black cellulose (car) paint - I don`t know about Baking but I left it in front of the gas fire 🙂 ..

Click on thumbnail to see 🙂

 

[Screwy]

That looks great Adam , A vast improvement over the original puke green .

Well done .

Paul

 

[Adam-T]

Thanks Paul, I was just damn lucky that the vulcanite stayed on 🙂 Tough stuff FSU Vulcanite !! .. It certainly won`t see the kind of usage my User RF does (the Z4) as it`s a bottom loader but I`ll have to get a roll through it 🙂

 

[Screwy]

Hehe I stripped a FED 2 body the other week , It took two coats of Nitromors left for 15-20 minutes each time . I'm pretty sure that Vulcanite is a form of vulcanised rubber applied under pressure and heat ,definitely tough stuff .


Paul

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Hehe I stripped a FED 2 body the other week , It took two coats of Nitromors left for 15-20 minutes each time . I'm pretty sure that Vulcanite is a form of vulcanised rubber applied under pressure and heat ,definitely tough stuff .


Paul

Hi Paul,
I haven't reached the stage yet of deciding to strip off the vulcanite on my recent Zorki,but if it does come to that,what exactly lies under the black top layer of the coating?Presumably some sort of make-up layer.What would you assess the total thickness to be.Any advice would be a great help.
Brian.

 

[Screwy]

Hi Brian

The Vulcanite is only about 0.50mm (0.020") thick over all on the FED 2 that I stripped , less than that if you consider that its a textured finish ,so probably 0.25mm (0.010") at its thinnest point . Its applied directly to the body , Aluminium in the FEDS case . One thing to watch for is stripper getting through the lens mount screw holes and stripping the paint inside the body or even worse if your stripping the camera still assembled :bang:



Paul

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Hi Brian

The Vulcanite is only about 0.50mm (0.020") thick over all on the FED 2 that I stripped , less than that if you consider that its a textured finish ,so probably 0.25mm (0.010") at its thinnest point . Its applied directly to the body , Aluminium in the FEDS case . One thing to watch for is stripper getting through the lens mount screw holes and stripping the paint inside the body or even worse if your stripping the camera still assembled :bang:



Paul

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the insight,sounds a little delicate to me,so at present Plan A,namely a refurb. of the vulcanite, seems to be the best route.
Cheers,
Brian.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Brian,
The covering appears to be attached to a paper base. It will come of with a scapel or craft knife. If you want to make it easier, scratch it through in a few places and let nitromors do the trick. Aki does some nice covers.

Kim

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Brian,
The covering appears to be attached to a paper base. It will come of with a scapel or craft knife. If you want to make it easier, scratch it through in a few places and let nitromors do the trick. Aki does some nice covers.

Kim

Kim,
There is a very small patch of the top vulcanite layer missing,and underneath as you say there does seem to be a fibrous paper-like substance.It reminds me of fibreboard,and if I could get the hard top layer off,I suspect that this undercoat may be quite easy to strip away.Thanks,
Brian.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Brian,
Which model are you doing? I have at least 1 perhaps 2 Aki covers sat in the drawer at home. You are welcome to them if you want.

Kim

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Brian,
Which model are you doing? I have at least 1 perhaps 2 Aki covers sat in the drawer at home. You are welcome to them if you want.

Kim

Kim,
It's a Zorki 1,although I'm not sure which variation.The serial number is 562418,so possibly quite a late model.That's very good of you,thanks.
Brian.