Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/03/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This became a do it yourself project......my mechanic wanted $85 to do the labor... I'm pretty handy, so I took on the job myself. Note that I will have a good 5 hours ino this repair, so the $85 was a fair cost of his time. PART I : MATERIALS and PREPARATION For all of you interested in the replacement of body skin ( Leather? Vulcanite? Whatever?) My experience from Leitz : Body skin replacement IS available. Labor adds about $80 to the skin cost. There is a die cut for M3 and another for M6... I do not know what other bodies. Buy directly from Leitz. M3= $50 including back door skin..... Specific configurations of M3 have different hole patterns.... M6= $40 including back door skin..... I wonder why it is less...??? The old Vulcanite from my M3 crystalized and was crumbling from the body. My body is in the shop for an overhaul, so I am working on the body shell without any mechanicals. I removed the Vulcanite with care using a putty knife. This took a good 2 hours using a lot of care not to gouge the body or myself. Using dental tools ( Received from an understanding dentist) got into all the little corners. Most of the glue was removed by scraping the surface with the dental tools. The glue had crystalized, so the bonds to the metal were not that tight. Do not gouge the metal.... scrape with the side of the tool, not the point. Finally, I removed the last vestiges of the old "glue" with acetone... in an open, outdoor area. Alcohol, water and paint remover had little to no effect. Acetone seems to be the best solvent that I have found. The glue dissolves pretty readily, leaving a really smooth body. The paint or whatever makes an M3 interior black does not dissolve in acetone. Part II FINISHING the JOB The new skin comes with a peel and stick backing......The material had a very Japanese sounding name printed on the backing. The skin was 1 piece. On my body, I have a surround on the lens release button. The die cut skin had the wrong size cutout. I had a punch the right size, so I cut a new hole on my own. I peeled the backing off half the new skin. Working from the frame selector lever, I carefully aligned the hole pattern... remember the backing glue is very tenacious, allowing for no mistakes. The skin went on with a perfect fit. I applied pressure to the entire skin by hand, then used a plastic chop stick as a burnishing tool. The smallest areas were burnished with a small sliver of hardwood. The back door required a paint job.... someone had removed all the black paint. A trip to the local auto parts store got me a container of touch-up paint in gloss black. 4 coats of thinly applied paint finished this off...(remember that this is a user camera, so perfection of paint application was not required. I just hated to see the chrome back.) I also got some flat black paint, and touched up the body shell and back in those areas where there was a bit of brightness. The back skin is not adhering at all,,,, the glue is a different material ( the grain patern is not a perfect match for the front either....Leica needs to improve this.....Why not use the same skin material as the body skin with the tenacious glue backing?) This is a small issue and will be taken care of shortly either with a new glue backing or a new back skin. The body looks and feels wonderful. It may not be authentic or perfect, but it is MY Leica that I can use with pleasure..... and it looks 20 years newer than when I got it! Now off to the repair shop to get the guts put back in.........50 MM Summicron should arrive today. Cost of project: M3 Body : $ 329 Bought with jammed shutter and 40% of the body skin missing from NYC Mail Order. Skin .......... 50 Shutter repair 149 Paint 5 - ------------------------------ total--------> $533.... fully reconditioned single stroke M3; S/N 1,105,XXX, with new skin, shutter job, and new owner.....not bad!!! Thank You Frank Filippone red735i@worldnet.att.net Thank You Frank Filippone red735i@worldnet.att.net