The perfect camera repair skin

[Berndt]

I finally found the "perfect camera repair skin"

Have been searching for it for a while. Everybody certainly knows the problem, when parts of the camera skin are missing sometimes ... or broken. So hard to find a material, which looks exactly the same and we mostly have to live with the missing parts ... or decide to renew everything.

I am not an expert and still experimenting, but what I already noticed is, that real leather is mostly to thick, especially if parts like shutter or aperture lever need to stay movable as it is the case at fronts of TLRs for example.

However, today I found the perfect stuff in a stationary shop and I think, it has been originally a folder for storing documents or so. It's very flexible plastic, like a thick foil ... but the structure of the surface does exactly look like "camera skin". What do you think ? I attached a picture. The part in the middle is the original TLR front skin ... a little bit dirty and broken though ( but that's the reason, why it needed to be replaced ).

[Randy]

Looks like it will fit the bill nicely.

[mickeyobe]

I guess one can't get a much better match than that.

Mickey

[herron]

If it's flexible enough to cut and bend, comes in sizes that are large enough to skin a whole camera and if wears well, it looks like a winner to me.

[kennb]

Does anyone use other materials or patterns to reskin a camera.

[mickeyobe]

As a collector of old Kodaks I am constantly frustrated by my inability to locate material that even comes close resembling the great variety of skins used by Kodak.

I have been fooling around with various materials to exactly replicate the old hides. So far with no success.

But as the old saying goes "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
Besides, despite my failures, its fun.

Mickey

[Deleted]

I have used pigskin from a scrap bin at a Tandy Craft store (a U.S. Chain). Pigskin seems to come in thinner pieces than cowhide.