Originally Posted by
Captain_joe6
Well, Chris, unfortunately there were no pictures because everything was happening so fast! But I can give you a little overview of the process:
I have the magnesium, and therefore green, version of the camera. I started by taking the whole thing apart, slowly, being sure to know how each thing went together. Then, on to sanding with coarse steel wool, then a rubdown with good solvent (Goo-Off is the stuff I used, and it is amazing), and on to a whole lot of masking. Obviously, all of the sliding surfaces and such got masked off.
Then, with as many parts as would fit, I hung everything with thin wire from the struts and cross members of a ladder which became my paint rack.
From here, the usual. Prime, dry, paint, dry, check, paint again, dry again. For paint, I used Rustoleum Hammer-Finish spraypaint. The color I picked was the lighter, more muted two greens that are available in the hammer finish (the other is a deep forrest green), and it turns out that the color I used is an eerily close match to the original shade of green, just glossier and with more texture. Originally, the frames for the ground glass on both my 8x10 and 4x5 backs were black instead of green, so I used another hammer-finish paint, this time a bronze color.
A C-1 uses about a can and a half of the main color, about 2 cans of primer, and some fraction of a can of flat black for all the internal surfaces and light trap surfaces on the backs. I just happened to have the bronze secondary color already, so figure that one in as well.
For all the sliding surfaces, I rubbed them with progressively finer steel wool, making sure things were smooth and slick. I did the same thing with all the metallic parts to make sure they had a nice shine.
Once all the paint was dry, I put it all back together. Next up, I'm going to strip the Majestic tripod I've got it on (though because of its tougher paint I'll have to use chemical paint stripper) and repaint it that same bronze color.
One idea you might want to try out would be stone-finish paint. I thought that would look cool, but the nostalgic side of me said 'no, keep it at least somewhat like original.' Never argue with your inside voice. PM me with any questions, I'll help as much as I can!
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