Halina A1 Reflex paint touch up

Working tonight, and between jobs I’ve managed to do a few of those little tedious jobs that still need to be done on this camera.

I’ve cleaned pretty much all the parts again, used some isopropyl to really get the old ingrained dirt away and have retouched with either a gloss or Matt paint depending on what part of the camera needed touching up.

I’ve also replaced some light seal and still have a bit to do on the roll film door. I’ve also reassembled the mirror assembly after each little part of it has been thoroughly cleaned.

The smell of age that has always been an issue with this camera continues, however I have had a bit of a breakthrough today with the camera itself, it’s a strange one but it seems to work. Once the painting has been done I’ve used a cloth soaked in black shoe Polish to coat all metal areas of the body. Once this dries I buff up with a dry cloth and hey presto not only does the retouched paintwork come up lovely it now has a polished smell that has taken the dank smell away from the bodywork. Hopefully fingers crossed this can be used to combat the years of damp smell that has accumulated on this piece.

Finally I have taken every shiny piece including screws and cleaned these as well, I must say the cleaning works and these parts have all come up lovely.

The case still needs attention, I’m fighting years of damp and staleness with that and hopefully will have an acceptable solution for it soon.

I still have to get into the lens and sort the fungus issue out, there is a hinge on the roll door that needs fixing and I then need to use the templates I created last week to cut out the new leatherette for the camera. Still a small amount to do, but I hope to be able to reassemble very soon.

Have a lovely day and thank you for passing by.