Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/09/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Sep 16, 2005, at 2:51 PM, Didier Ludwig wrote: > Feli > > I had an interesting information exchange with the LHSA member Akira > Nakajima in the past winter. He had dechromed and painted his Leica. > See his instructions below. interesting - I had an email exchange with Akira before diving into my M3... > I for myself have decided that dechroming is too messy and better done > by a professional galvanizer, and assembling/CLA will be done by other > professionals. I have disassembled a Canon VT DeLuxe with a repair > manual found in the web and sent the parts to a local galvanizer here > in Switzerland. Total costs were CHF50 that's $40. I'm shure it's > cheaper in the US. Don't be so sure - having my top and bottom plates dechromed ran $38 plus shipping :) but that was preferable to dealing with the nasty acids etc for doing a home stripping. > Now the parts wait to be painted, unfortunately I'm missing the time > for that. I have bought "Flat Black" fine grain enamel paint (Part > #CF3-F) and a red and white lacquer pen for the engravings, both from > http://www.micro-tools.com (anyway the right place for all camera > tinkerers). After painting (damn I hope this will happen soon) all > will be sent unasssembled to http://www.essexcamera.com where they > will assemble and CLA the camera for another $130 (they agreed for > this procedure). Mine had been CLA'd in the past 3-4 years and was working perfectly...I now want to tackle a black M2 or M3 as soon as I can find a suitable candidate. My original intent was to paint my M3 black but then I saw Akira's repaint and an LHSA hammertone at the local shop and changed my mind. The absolute worst part about doing this camera was having to use $#@^& aerosol spray cans. I would have great preferred using my airbrush. I have 20+ years of airbrush experience painting models and minatures in much the same fashion as Feli...and I'm sure that Feli will find that the skills translate perfectly well. CZ NC