Last week I bought an Argus AA off of eBay that had a crack in the Bakelite body. Normally I'd pass up something like this, and if it were an A, A2, or one of the other A variants I probably would have. The AA was made for only one year in 1941. Production stopped due to WWII, and as a result there were about 13,500 of them made. Sounds like a lot, but it's paltry considering the millions of C3's they made. Serial numbers are sequential ignoring the 5 prefix so this is AA #07,493, about the middle of the manufacturing run.
It's a real shame about the crack because the rest of the camera is in beautiful condition. The seller tells the story that it was used in WWII by a soldier, hence the crack. Maybe, maybe not. I was told a long time ago to buy the item not the story. I had planned to remove the rewind assembly and fix the crack, but after it was delivered what I had assumed to be one crack turned out to be three.
02 by telecast, on Flickr
Everything is still in one piece and holding tight, probably thanks to the nut that mounts the film rewind shaft to the body, so I decided to just fix the main crack instead of taking it apart and risking a bigger mess. If the others ever open up I'll address them then.
The "soldier" had applied some medical cloth type tape over the crack which left residue behind. I tested Goof Off on the Bakelite with no adverse effect, and it was able to get almost all of the old adhesive off. Afterwards the crack was flushed clean using a hypodermic needle and isopropyl alcohol. A clamp and epoxy closed the crack up quite a bit, but I couldn't get it completely closed. After the epoxy cured I used a Dremel with a round head carving bit to route the crack a little wider and deeper on the inside and then leveled it with another application of epoxy for strength. Since the epoxy was clear (chosen in case it oozed out the front of the crack) light was still getting through, so the interior was painted over with flat black paint. The epoxy was also used to level and trap the large crack and pieces on the bottom from the outside.
The back is in great shape with a few minor scratches and scuffs. The cushion that holds the film cartridge was dried and hard, so it was replaced with a piece of stuff kind of like weather stripping but a little higher density, made for speaker building. A little flat black paint fixed the scratches.
04 by telecast, on Flickr
The Argus group helped a lot (once again) with lens removal and cleaning. I was able to completely clean the interior and exterior surfaces of both lens groups.
After the paint dried I turned my attention to the viewfinder, which was very foggy. Cleaning the outside didn't help much. Gathering my courage I removed the retaining ring from the rear viewfinder lens. I was careful to drop the lens out in my palm to make sure I knew proper orientation, then cleaned the interior surface of the front lens by reaching through the rear opening with canned air, Q-Tips, and lens cleaner. Getting the ring back in was a bit nerve wracking but not terribly difficult. A good wash down and general cleaning followed.
The crack repair isn't perfect, but it is perfectly serviceable. When I first saw the camera on eBay I dismissed it because of the crack. He had it listed as an A not realizing it's an AA. The price of $5.50 was too good to pass up and I kind of felt like I wanted to rescue the little guy. I'm going to let it set open for a few days to make sure the paint is cured, then load it up and shoot some film.
05 by telecast, on Flickr
It's a real shame about the crack because the rest of the camera is in beautiful condition. The seller tells the story that it was used in WWII by a soldier, hence the crack. Maybe, maybe not. I was told a long time ago to buy the item not the story. I had planned to remove the rewind assembly and fix the crack, but after it was delivered what I had assumed to be one crack turned out to be three.
Everything is still in one piece and holding tight, probably thanks to the nut that mounts the film rewind shaft to the body, so I decided to just fix the main crack instead of taking it apart and risking a bigger mess. If the others ever open up I'll address them then.
The "soldier" had applied some medical cloth type tape over the crack which left residue behind. I tested Goof Off on the Bakelite with no adverse effect, and it was able to get almost all of the old adhesive off. Afterwards the crack was flushed clean using a hypodermic needle and isopropyl alcohol. A clamp and epoxy closed the crack up quite a bit, but I couldn't get it completely closed. After the epoxy cured I used a Dremel with a round head carving bit to route the crack a little wider and deeper on the inside and then leveled it with another application of epoxy for strength. Since the epoxy was clear (chosen in case it oozed out the front of the crack) light was still getting through, so the interior was painted over with flat black paint. The epoxy was also used to level and trap the large crack and pieces on the bottom from the outside.
The back is in great shape with a few minor scratches and scuffs. The cushion that holds the film cartridge was dried and hard, so it was replaced with a piece of stuff kind of like weather stripping but a little higher density, made for speaker building. A little flat black paint fixed the scratches.
The Argus group helped a lot (once again) with lens removal and cleaning. I was able to completely clean the interior and exterior surfaces of both lens groups.
After the paint dried I turned my attention to the viewfinder, which was very foggy. Cleaning the outside didn't help much. Gathering my courage I removed the retaining ring from the rear viewfinder lens. I was careful to drop the lens out in my palm to make sure I knew proper orientation, then cleaned the interior surface of the front lens by reaching through the rear opening with canned air, Q-Tips, and lens cleaner. Getting the ring back in was a bit nerve wracking but not terribly difficult. A good wash down and general cleaning followed.
The crack repair isn't perfect, but it is perfectly serviceable. When I first saw the camera on eBay I dismissed it because of the crack. He had it listed as an A not realizing it's an AA. The price of $5.50 was too good to pass up and I kind of felt like I wanted to rescue the little guy. I'm going to let it set open for a few days to make sure the paint is cured, then load it up and shoot some film.
