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M2: black paint on the back cover


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I bought a M2 a couple of weeks ago. The camera is in mint condition and works quite well. However, the first day when I used it outdoor, I sadly found that the black painting on the back cover was badly scratched by the buttons on my shirt (some white metal shows up now). I didn't know that the painting on the camera was so soft. Though it is not a big deal, I wonder if I can use a black "car paint pen" to touch up the part where the original painting was scratched off?

 

Though I can leave it as it is but feel a little bit annoying. Any comments and suggestions?

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Original paint is not soft and no shirt button would scratch it. Someone repainted/or replaced it. The original paint was baked on laquor or a finish called Japan. Impossible to duplicate today.

 

The best paint I found was a spray appliance black .

 

You can try some auto paint, which may or may not stick in which case you will need to go to bare metal, prime and repaint.

 

You will find a hinge pin on the left side if the back is opened.

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As Toby has said, the original black stove enamel paint is tough as heck and a shirt button definitely would not scratch it or rub it off. Auto paint is not really suitable, it dries to quickly and you will have trouble putting it on smoothly. You also don't know what was used to repaint the rear cover, so you don't want touch up paint reacting with that (I suspect if it is a fragile finish it is also a 'decorative' black from an auto range, but it may not be). So good old oil based enamel paint is the thing to use, it will be tougher than an acrylic auto paint and won't react with anything else. You'll need a fine artists brush to put it on.

 

Steve

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I bought a M2 a couple of weeks ago. The camera is in mint condition and works quite well. However, the first day when I used it outdoor, I sadly found that the black painting on the back cover was badly scratched by the buttons on my shirt (some white metal shows up now ...)

 

Is it an all black M2-camera or has only the "backcover" been repainted? >>Some white metal<< seems to describe the standard chrome finish which got altered to black. In case chrome shows up under the chipping paint it was a poor job and should be rejected.

 

Best

GEORG

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Is it an all black M2-camera or has only the "backcover" been repainted? >>Some white metal<< seems to describe the standard chrome finish which got altered to black. In case chrome shows up under the chipping paint it was a poor job and should be rejected.

 

Best

GEORG

 

It is a chrome camera. The top and bottom are chrome. But the frame of the back cover was painted (?) in black.

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As Toby has said, the original black stove enamel paint is tough as heck and a shirt button definitely would not scratch it or rub it off. Auto paint is not really suitable, it dries to quickly and you will have trouble putting it on smoothly. You also don't know what was used to repaint the rear cover, so you don't want touch up paint reacting with that (I suspect if it is a fragile finish it is also a 'decorative' black from an auto range, but it may not be). So good old oil based enamel paint is the thing to use, it will be tougher than an acrylic auto paint and won't react with anything else. You'll need a fine artists brush to put it on.

 

Steve

 

Thanks Steve. Do you have a link (e.g. on ebay) where I can buy "old oil based enamel paint"?

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Original paint is not soft and no shirt button would scratch it. Someone repainted/or replaced it. The original paint was baked on laquor or a finish called Japan. Impossible to duplicate today.

 

The best paint I found was a spray appliance black .

 

You can try some auto paint, which may or may not stick in which case you will need to go to bare metal, prime and repaint.

 

You will find a hinge pin on the left side if the back is opened.

 

Thanks Tobey. I am also curious about the painting (if it was repainted). I just touch it and it does not seem to be soft. Indeed it feels hard. I don't understannd why it can be scratched off by the plastic button on my shirt.

 

The frame of the eye window on the viewfinder scratches with my eye glass more but it shows no sign of scratch.

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>> Frank

 

In case it was mine I would try to contact DAG or another supplier of LEITZ spares and ask for a properly kept replacement delivery. I don´t know the cost, but in case you are not the DIY type, much easier ...

 

In the end of a DIY process you might not like the look of what you have painted.

 

The door can easily be exchanged by their movable sideflanges.

 

 

Best

GEORG

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>> Frank

 

In case it was mine I would try to contact DAG or another supplier of LEITZ spares and ask for a properly kept replacement delivery. I don´t know the cost, but in case you are not the DIY type, much easier ...

 

In the end of a DIY process you might not like the look of what you have painted.

 

The door can easily be exchanged by their movable sideflanges.

 

 

Best

GEORG

 

Yes. I can look into replace it if I want the cover looks perfect. But before that I want to try DIY and see the effect.

 

Besides the buttons on my shirt I really cannot think of any other cause for the damage. The damage appears only two days after my purchase. I always put it into my camera bag when it is not on my neck.

 

Best,

Frank

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Regardless of opinions regarding the durability of paint on the back door, it is not the same enamel used for the top and bottom of black Leicas (which is not particularly durable either.) If you care, note that there is no primer below the paint - a certain flaw. All Leica Ms that I have owned suffered wear on the back first. Personally, I would just suffer it out, leave it be, perhaps have it repainted before selling it.

.

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Regardless of opinions regarding the durability of paint on the back door, it is not the same enamel used for the top and bottom of black Leicas (which is not particularly durable either.) If you care, note that there is no primer below the paint - a certain flaw. All Leica Ms that I have owned suffered wear on the back first. Personally, I would just suffer it out, leave it be, perhaps have it repainted before selling it.

.

 

Yes. Another option is to just use a small patch of black tape to cover the scratched part. That is simple.

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Regardless of opinions regarding the durability of paint on the back door, it is not the same enamel used for the top and bottom of black Leicas (which is not particularly durable either.)

.

 

Modern black paint Leica film bodies – the MP and a la carte M7 bodies – come with a bog standard black chrome back door. It is not painted. Some of the special editions (e.g. MP Classic and, I think, M6 Millennium) have a painted rear door which IMO looks better, even if it is less durable than the black chrome version.

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The rear door in the M2 era was painted in baked enamel (stove enamel), so there was no undercoat to make it adhere, the paint was used because it could be applied relatively thickly onto steel and it was more scratch resistant than the paint on the top and bottom covers. But when it chipped it would chip clean off, as does the finish on things like utility stove enamelled cups and teapots. Even so it is typically used on things that are knocked about and have a hard life, like the rear door. It is usually pretty well inert and won't react with any other type of paint that is used to touch it up. But as the OP says his was perfect and was scratched by a plastic button, so this makes us assume it has been re-finished in a modern paint not up to the job. Stove enamel was not used on the top and bottom covers because it would have filled or softened the engraving and would have been even less compatible on brass than the paint used.

 

Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...
Some of the special editions (e.g. MP Classic and, I think, M6 Millennium) have a painted rear door which IMO looks better, even if it is less durable than the black chrome version.

 

 

Correct. The Millennium has a black paint rear door. Yet another reason to buy it and not waste double the money on an MP.

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Black enamel on Leica bodies is over rated concerning durability.

 

People described it as stove enamel which it is not. Stove enamel is ceramic!'

 

Leica black enamel is simply an efficient, non-durable enamel highly susceptible to damage by sweaty hands. Leica could do better but chose black chrome because it is economical.

Edited by pico
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People described it as stove enamel which it is not. Stove enamel is ceramic!'

 

Some people even get this simple thing wrong and confuse stove enamel (synthetic/resin) with vitreous enamel (ceramic)

 

Steve

Edited by 250swb
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