The leather was tatty and torn so I decided to replace it. I found a local leather supplies that had hides that were suitably thin and flexible but unfortunately the only colours they had were a medium green and a mustard yellow.  As I was walking out I saw a piece of acid yellow leather in their offcuts bin that was badly creased. That cost me a whole dollar while the other pieces were $10 each.

Reskinning was fairly straight forward. First the broken shutter was removed and the holes filled up with MDF plugs and plastic filler. I used the old leather as a pattern and cut the leather with ordinary scissors. It was stuck on with rubber contact cement which requires precision but isn't too bad with a little practice. The most difficult bit was the front of the focussing bed which has a large bulge. I made a frame to go around the edges of the bulge and clamped it in place. This stretched the leather enough that there weren't any wrinkles. Unfortunately the frame was clamped a little too tightly and left a visible mark, but it isn't all that bad. The only other complaint is that perhaps the leather was a little too thin. The hex nuts that hold the focussing rack in place are clearly visible under the leather on the right hand side, so I've got "Zeiss bumps" from day one. Oh well.

I've also repainted some of the chromed bits gloss black to contrast with the yellow and that part went well.

Well, that is all the cosmetic stuff. The real changes are visible from the rear. The bellows was disconnected from the front standard easily enough but at the rear it is bolted to a thin metal plate that is integral to the camera. I ended up cutting around the edges of the plate and then turning it 90 degrees and glueing it back in place. It wasn't very elegant but it worked. Having done that the bellows were then reinstalled relatively easily.

The next step, as yet unfinished, is building the new back. I use grafmatic backs almost exclusively because I find them easier to load and much more convenient than conventional double dark slides. I decided to build a spring back that would hold a grafmatic which would slot in from below. I started by cutting a piece of 1 mm aluminium plate to fit inside the rear of the camera and then cut a 100 x 120mm hole in that. I also had to remove some wood from the base of the camera. I have made a couple of wooden rails to position the grafmatic horizontally and there is a piece of square brass tube at the top to position it vertically.

The grafmatic has a ridge across one end to hold it in place, so the corresponding slot was formed with strips of 0.5mm aluminium glued to the 1mm plate. Above that you can vaguely see the wide slot cut in the bottom of the camera for the grafmatic.

This is my first attempt, using four mousetraps. I've narrowed them a little and bent them to follow the contours of the grafmatic but that is about it. The trap uses a type of staple to connect the wire bits to the wooden base. I've opted for screw in eyelets that came with a picture hanging kit. I'll paint the woodwork with some black enamel when I get a chance. You can see here how the grafmatic sits out of the bottom of the camera.

The next task is to make a slip in focussing screen. I've got a couple of old film pack holders making their way over from the US and I'll cut a hole in the back of those and rig up some sort of folding screen to keep the light off. Once that is done I can get a new mirror for the rangefinder and get that working and it will be all done bar some missing trim.

Continue reading with Part 2: Making the Focussing Panel