Help with Toyo 45 moldy bellows

[erian]

Hello everyone,

I have been lurker in the forums absorbing information but I may need a bit help with my journey into the large format.

So far it has been unsuccessful because of the failures to obtain a suitable camera (first came without the back (actually as presented but I did not realize it), second had strong smell (not even sure what was the source of it) and was a wrong model and as the subject suggests, the last one has a mold issue. I have not detected any visible issue but the odor is well recognizable.

I did research and found several possible solutions but none of them feels fully convincing for me.

My concerns are:

1) cleaning is not effective and leaves me exposed to the mold (this is serious concern for me and I will not back off from this) even when its odor is masked,
2) cleaning will damage the camera.

I have found the following suggested solutions:

1) applying effectively solvents in a liquid or vaporized form (vinegar, alcohol, Lysol, Thymol etc but also disolved baking soda),
2) using a smell absorber inside a sealed container (baking soda, cat litters),
3) using high ventilation and UV exposure (leaving the camera out on the sunny day).

I am afraid that any kind of solvent will affect the camera and I am very wary about this idea.

I am also not sure that the solution in the vaporized form will penetrate deep enough into the material.

But I am also not sure that using any absorber will effectively kill the mold because I do not see the mechanism it can use for the job.

This time of year also does not allow much of applying the method three.

An alternative option is to buy new bellows but I understand that replacing them would require considerable effort and I am not sure I could effectively clean the rest of the camera such that the bellows will not get contaminated again.

Please be kind to share your experiences or other expertise in this matter.

PS. I live in Western-Europe so any info about the specific products on this market I could use is very welcome.

Edit: What I have is Toyo 45A Field (in fact Toyo 45AR with the revolving back) so it is much more complicated than much more modular Toyo View.