I am going to start using my M2 w/ 2.8 summaron again after many years sitting in a case. It has a couple of cosmetic defects that I am wondering could be repaired. The original vulcanite covering is almost all intact and in excellent condition except for a tiny chunk of it missing at the skinniest portion below the lens mount. It is such a small piece that I am not sure if it has always been missing or not. Anyway searching for a solution has me stymied. I found the suggestion to use epoxy (or superglue) mixed with carbon black. Somehow I don't see myself putting epoxy or superglue on this fine camera, it might be difficult to remove in the future and I am afraid of it leaking down into the lens mount. I was wondering if anyone knows of any simpler product that might work? Maybe a liquid rubber in a tube or something? It is a very small hidden place that needs to be repaired.

The other cosmetic problem is that a previous owner (a church) engraved their name on the top of the camera. It is not a deep engraving into the actual metal of the camera, but rather it just seems to be etched through the chrome plating over the brass. I am guessing that it was not done with an engraving tool, but instead with some sort of acid etching and a stencil. If I look at it with a strong loupe, the lettering only seems to go the depth of the plating. Anyone know if there is a way to disquise or replate something like this? (without spending a fortune).

On the other hand, the mechanical and optical condition of the body and lens are practically like new, so these minor defects don't prevent me from using this classic.

-- Neil Parker (artmill@frii.com), April 19, 2002

Answers

m2/3/4 top plates turn up on ebay and sherry krauter sometimes has them for sale. there is no easy way to correct the stenciling problem. if it is not into the brass, you could strip the camera and have it painted black enamel -- a popular move these days. cost: $400. the vulcanite can be replaced. if you want a spot repair, marflex in new jersey sold me a tube of black goo, that can be textured as it dries with a little piece of textured vulcan. i have heard that the "shoe goo" product also works quite well. if it were me, i'd leave it alone and eventually replace the whole thing once it gets worse. spot repairs always look a little funky. plus YOU know they are there.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), April 19, 2002.

I'd drip a bit of black candle wax into the missing spot, carve it a bit to look like you want, and call it good. That won't hurt anything at all, it's easy to remove, it shouldn't be vulnerable in that spot, and it'll do the job.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

I found an item that might be interesting for vulcanite repairs -

Spray rubber "underkote" that dry's hard, and can be painted (its hard rubber like vulcanite).

I used some on my truck to cover new fender supports, and I liked it so much that I sprayed some into a paper cup and ended up dipping some things into it, to see how it drys and adheres.

Neat stuff - sprays on like paint, then gets gooey for a bit, then dry's hard but flexable. I bet some of that sprayed into a small cup (to form a pool) then dabbed into the "wound" would build up to full thickness in a few applications. I also was able to easily scrape off the hard finish from some drill blanks bar stock after curing. It pretty much came off with a wooden stick (makeshift non metal scraper)

I dont have a vulcanite M with defects, or I'd try this myself!

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), April 19, 2002.

The epoxy trick works well for small vulcanite repairs, and it's tough (much tougher than wax or rubber goo). It can be scraped off if you ever get the camera recovered. You let the epoxy harden slightly before applying it, so there's no real risk of it getting into places you don't specifically put it.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), April 19, 2002.

Vulcanite repair: talcum powder on good similar vulcanite, then modelling clay to take impression. Mix 5 minute epoxy with carbon black or dye, smear onto impression. Add a little lens tissue or spun bonded nylon for backing. When set, clean using petroleum base (ie white spirit), cut to missing shape, adhere into place using 5 minute epoxy(which is fairly easy to remove)Mix more black epoxy mix in small quantities and spot in around repair to imitate texture. Use small amount of hard varnish on peak areas of repair texture, as repair mix is less glossy. This system is also useful for early M lenses which are shod with vulcanite. James Elwing

-- James Elwing (elgur@acay.com.au), April 19, 2002.

You can also use a liquid rubber compound called "Liquid Electrical Tape" (search google). It comes out of a bottle as a black viscous liquid which then dries to give a black rubber-like flexible solid.

Pretty neat, you can apply it with a toothpick - but the problem is that it dries to have a clean-black colour, which wouldn't exactly match the colour of your older M. Also you cannot muck about as the stuff dries very quickly.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), April 19, 2002.

Liquid Electrical Tape

I had a dig around and found the following online info: It's made by Star Brite and is available in 4oz and 32oz bottles. Here's a direct link to the product itself.

I use this stuff a lot myself, mainly to seal the circuits in my 6V & 9V digital camera powerpacks.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), April 20, 2002.

(let's try that again... grrr)

Liquid Electrical Tape

I had a dig around and found the following online info: It's made by Star Brite and is available in 4oz and 32oz bottles. Here's a direct link to the product itself.

I use this stuff a lot myself, mainly to seal the circuits in my 6V & 9V digital camera powerpacks.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), April 20, 2002.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I think I will search out the liquid electric tape.

-- Neil Parker (artmill@frii.com), April 21, 2002.