Another cover-up

[belgiumreporter]

I know i'm not the only one pimping Pen EE cameras on this forum, but as bragging is allowed i thought i'd show mine.
It is covered in lamb leather wich is very soft, thin and flexible, it has a very skin like feel to it.
To take the pimping a step further i've de-chromed the base plate and polished the brass, this is my first attempt and has learned me that i need to use a less agressive manner of removing the chrome (work in progress) My final plan, if i can get the de-chroming process fine tuned, would be to do a complete camera, then polish all brass parts to a mirror finish, and add some fancy ( crocodile, shark or sting-ray) leather to finish the camera off to an exlusive look.
I've found a leather supplier here in Belgium, when i find the time next month i think i'll have a chat with him.
Furthermore on the Pen, i would strongly advice people who would venture in to camera pimping, to do their first try on a Pen, they are cheap, it's easy to remove the old leather( wich can be kept as a tremplate ) and look great once done. 

[belgiumreporter]

It would then look a bit like this :

[philbirch]

mmm nice. It would be difficult to remove the chrome from the rewind knob and lens. I suspect it would be a different colour underneath

[Stephen]

There will be other metals under the chrome, the best plan may be to have the chrome removed and the parts gold plated, it is not expensive as so little gold is used and it will electroplate very well to most metals.

Most small plating companies will re-move chrome and nickel plate easily, using chemicals, and reversing the plating process. It can even be done at home, but is a noxious chemical process using chromic and sulphuric acid.

However chrome can also be removed by alkali, Sodium hydroxide, just soaking, but the plating may take time to dissolve. f you have access to grit blasting, a fine grade grit will remove the chrome easily, followed by bead blast to give a satin finish to the gold plating.

Apart from wear gold plate will last indefinitely.
Stephen

[belgiumreporter]

Thanks Stephen and Phil, after doing some research and with your feedback it seems to me sensible to leave the dechroming and goldplating to people who know what they are doing. I'm still ,thinking of doing that on a nikon FM wich isn't such a difficult camera to dismantle in order to have the metal parts plated. After all here in Antwerp i wouldn't have to search far to find someone who could do it, looked in the yellow pages and found about 5 firms within 3Km from where i live offering (gold) plating services.

[truls]

The humble Oly really got classy! I have thought of getting one of these, preferably in a working condition.

[philbirch]

I looked at gold plating service myself. There are a few companies that are mobile and will do it at my home!! I'll ring them after weekend and get a quote.

[moltogordo]

While your work and your methods are just outstanding, this one reminded me of a line in a Clint Eastwood movie, a car theft thing with Charlie Sheen I can't remember the name of. When seeing a restored Lotus painted lime green, cop Eastwood said "I can handle most anything, but painting a car like that, that color . . . that's just a sin!"

But I could dig it in snakeskin!!

Just great work!

[philbirch]

Thanks - and here is my latest Trip. Made from a NEXT purse. The leatherette on the purse was this minty blue, yellow and pastel pink. There is enough to do one in each. How do you think it looks with the name in the same colour?

[philbirch]

better pic