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7 hours ago, Steven said:

Looks amazing flu ! please teach us how to do it ! 

 

7 hours ago, Al Brown said:

I must admit I like it. I am a big fan of brassed black paint Leicas yet very sensitive regarding the brassing amount... It surely can be too much for my liking (like in this post - it is a natural occuring process though, I know).

Anyway, you did a good job. What was the sandpaper grade @Flu? 2000... or more? Maybe you could describe your process?

Thx Steven and Al!

The entire job took me only 3 hours to do with 1000 grit and 3000 grit paper. It wasn't too hard to do as long as I was being very careful about not accidentally sanding an area intended to stay black. The glossy BP is very easily dulled by the sandpaper and I found that one slip of the hand will create an unwanted opaque scratch line. I initially used the 1000 grit to remove the paint faster and later one went back with 3000 grit to smooth everything over. One trick I found useful is including water for a wet sanding technique. I'd get a few drops onto my fingers and then dap the water onto the part of the body I wanted to wet sand. This trick helps me mask over some of the accidental nicks on the BP and it also makes that specific area of the paint look slightly distressed instead of perfectly glossy which I think somehow works out well to bridge the gap between perfectly glossy paint and the fully brassed areas. During the process, I tried to blend some straight lines with a few organic shapes mixed in just to make it somewhat more realistic and believable. With this experience under my belt, I think if I ever get another opportunity to do this again, I'd be able to make it even better!

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2 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

.  I don't think I would have the courage to take sandpaper to a beautiful black paint M10R...

Why would you want to do this? It is so simple to rub through paint with wet and dry paper on sharp edges, and it just looks like someone has done just that. If you are going to do it at least try and replicate genuine brassing, there are plenty of examples to use as a guide. I know you can do what you want with your own stuff, but pure vandalism for me.

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vor 2 Stunden schrieb Flu:

Hi Wonzo,


The thumb grip is from Match technical and they do make a BP brass edition! Here are a few quick and easy iPhone snaps without the crazy background.

 

Many thanks for the additional images, Flu ! You really did a good job ! Like Herr Barnack I think that I won`t have the courage to do this on my BP. 

Did you try the original Handgrip (in the meantime I found out, that it is also made of brass) before you bought this one from Match Technical ? Where is the advantage ?

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3 hours ago, Wonzo said:

Many thanks for the additional images, Flu ! You really did a good job ! Like Herr Barnack I think that I won`t have the courage to do this on my BP. 

Did you try the original Handgrip (in the meantime I found out, that it is also made of brass) before you bought this one from Match Technical ? Where is the advantage ?

Thanks Wonzo! If I’m not mistaken, the Leica thumb support has black chrome paint and so even tho it’s made of brass, the chrome finish is very tough to sand off.

4 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

@Flu  I was skeptical at first, but your M came out looking great - nice job!

You are much more brave than I am, though.  I don't think I would have the courage to take sandpaper to a beautiful black paint M10R...

Thanks Herr! I hope to naturally brass it through actual use from here on out. 

5 hours ago, Steven said:

https://artedimano.com/Matchtechnical/?idx=71 

This one ? It looks great on you photo! 

It's actually the first time I find that gold Summicron attractive ! 

I really want to do the same on mine. Just ordered the sandpaper on amazon although I still didn't really understand how to do it nicely. Al, you try first and let me know how it goes ? ! 

That’s the one! They make a BP satin finish which is the one I got. But I heard they also make a BP gloss finish nowadays just to have 100% match. 

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5 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

Black paint brassing is exactly like the red dot on the M.

Some people hate it.
Some people love it.

Some people use sandpaper to induce brassing. Some people use gaffer tape to cover the red dot.
The world is indeed a strange place.

Except the red dot can stay visible or hidden/changed, while the brassing, which not everyone likes, is unavoidable with continued use.  Rather expensive to restore shiny black paint.

Jeff

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Funny how most gush about how beautiful the black paint is.  But then they rush to scrape it off and change the look. Others are of course free to do what they want, but personally I don't get the rush to do anything; seems better to me to let nature take its course.  But I like all-black, or black and chrome, while black and gold-ish holds no appeal whatsoever.  As I wrote elsewhere, for me it would be like scraping paint off a beautiful black car, or adding gold pinstripes.  No thanks, but to each his/her own.

Jeff

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30 minutes ago, Steven said:

Received my sandpaper today and started adventuring on the base plate, to practice... 

I was shocked how fast it was to brass! with the 1000 grit paper, wich is one of the smoothest, the paint goes or straight away. Using the wet technique from Flu, I did this corner of the baseplate in under a minute, and I think it looks pretty natural. 

Any suggestions before I continue ? 
 

Gives it a wabi-sabi sort of angle which I personally like. If I had a black paint R at hand I might do the same. Looking forward to seeing the progress. 

Edited by RMF
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I love the look of a beautifully brassed camera and can see why folks like to get straight to that aesthetic. However, the removal of paint from areas that don't usually generate wear/brassing makes it somehow less lustful.

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I respect the sandpaper folks but as soon as I receive my BP I will watch both of us ageing by using. BTW the M8.2, the original M9 and the M9-P were painted too, can’t remember any buzz about fake brassing back then. That tells us something about marketing and hype I guess.

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17 minutes ago, RF’sDelight said:

can’t remember any buzz about fake brassing back then

There was. One user braised his to hell and pretended it was due to use... after a month or two of use. Can probably be found if you want to search.

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vor 3 Stunden schrieb Steven:

Received my sandpaper today and started adventuring on the base plate, to practice... 

I was shocked how fast it was to brass! with the 1000 grit paper, wich is one of the smoothest, the paint goes or straight away. Using the wet technique from Flu, I did this corner of the baseplate in under a minute, and I think it looks pretty natural. 

Any suggestions before I continue ? 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

IMHO, the wear does not look authentic, as the zone around the small hole usually should be protected by the protrusion of the camera body. The lower edge could look like real wear but concerning the upper edge I would have some doubts. 🤔

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3 hours ago, Steven said:

Received my sandpaper today and started adventuring on the base plate, to practice... 

I was shocked how fast it was to brass! with the 1000 grit paper, wich is one of the smoothest, the paint goes or straight away. Using the wet technique from Flu, I did this corner of the baseplate in under a minute, and I think it looks pretty natural. 

Any suggestions before I continue ? 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Looks really good to my eyes! Nice job!

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If I don’t brass mine, it will almost look like every other black M body on my shelf. I might grab the wrong one as I head out the door in haste…LOL

In other words, I only bought this M10RBP because it could brass easily as I didn’t want just another simple and clean black M body. 

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