The general condition of the
camera is pretty good but the shutter looked suspiciously out of place
on this camera.
Back home, I quick search
revealed that the shutter did not belonged to this camera.
Nevertheless, the focal
distance is correct and the shutter, even if it is seized, it is in
good condition.
The one that has done this
conversion has done a pretty good job but I have to adjust the
conversion since there are some oddities such as the rangefinder blocks
the diaphragm lever.
The main problem of this camera
is that the leather is extremely dry and cracks under minimal pressure.
All the leather covering of the shutter mounting plates is detached and cracks if molested.
I used some goat leather leftovers that my friend Miguel Angel brought to me from Morocco. In order to obtain a very thin leather, I soaked it very hot water for some minutes and I peeled the outer layer of the skin. This layer is very fragile and I ripped several pieces of leather before obtaining a decent piece of leather.
As found. all the plating is very dull
The lenses are foggy. It was only dust. The U base of the shutter mounting plate has lost its leather cover.
There is some leather missing on the top left corner of the shutter mounting plate
The leather of the bellows is very dry
This side is even worst
The shutter was very sticky. It still works, but it takes several seconds to open and close.
Serial number 258646? Patent number?
Frontal lens removed. Just turn it!
Speed disk removed
All the pieces of the speed disk
Screws of the front plate removed.
Front plate removed
Shutter blades. The top one has a screw and I did not/could not removed it.
This thing is enormous!!!
I dip it for 24 hours on a liquid that is used to clean engines and the shutter came out clean as new, but the blades paint was gone too.
Cleaning the U shutter mounting revealed good chrome
The leather of the botom left corner xas missing. I cut a piece and glued in place.
The viewfinder was filthy.
The level has lost the oil. The glass was glued in place and I had to glue it with crazy glue to the end of a marker to pull it out.
It camed out! I unglued it from the eddin with a razor blade. I did a new sealing joint with a tap joint and i refilled it with oil.
New leather for the U mount
Trimed.
I detached the bellows and the hinges.
The bellows are finally out. It is attached to the camera by many litle screws that needed lots of oil to give up.
I patched the corners of the bellows with very thin leather that I teinted with shoe polish.
The door of the camera comes out taking away this four screws
The wooden chasis was broken on this corner and a piece was missing
I refilled the missing piece with wooden putty and i used to razor blades to do the shape of the missing chunk
The screw of this piece was too tight.
Both sides of the shutter were filed. This was not needed to fit the shutter on this camera.
Some Epoxi Putty filled out the missing parts. I painted the Epoxy black
The finished camera. The Autograph pen is still there. It does not fit on my other Autograph camera but if I make one slightly shorter, it will fit.
The autograph window opened
The bellows have a nice red color now. The leather of the body has also been nourrished
The other side
The front
The level is now filled again with oil anf a little air bubble. The oil is too thick but this level is anyways completly useless!
Polishing the leg revealed a serial number: 80237 A
The film used on this camera is 9.5 cm wide. I'll try to adapt 120 (6 cm) film to it.