| Kodak Retina IIa |
Leather
colors & types for Retina |
|
|
|
The Kodak
Retina IIa is the first camera of this class supported by
cameraleather. Seal Grain Black leatherette (fine texture), shown
at left, is a reasonable way to restore it. Obviously, you will
lose the lettering pressed in to the original leather. The back door is not smooth . . . it has horizontal grooves machined in the metal, so it's important to get it clean before applying the new leather to get maximum surface contact. All kits include the little piece on the advance lever. The original leather covering, surely made in Germany along with the rest of the camera, is an example of the exceptional craftsmanship of the time and place. Along with many other German cameras of the period, it is real leather (probably goat skin) unlike the glazed paper that is often mistaken for the real thing. It's the only factory leather we've seen that shows evidence of hand paring at the ends to make them as flush as possible. We can tell because we do the same type of work on many of our leather kits. |
| The three-dimensional folding door
presents the old problem of how to cover it with sheet (flat)
material. The factory used a press with 2 matched, molded dies to
stretch the leather into the correct 3-D piece, not unlike the walls of
a pyramid. We can simulate this by wrapping the same shape with a
flat piece, or pieces, of leather. We offer 2 options, which we
will call "Four Petals" and
the "Bear Hug". Four Petals,
shown at right in Claret composite leather, are a satisfactory way to
cheat, by using four matched pieces to lay flat on each of the four
walls. This offers the owner the easiest application by far, and
requires only that you clean the paint off the chrome of the four
exposed corners. You can argue that this looks at least as good
as the original. Several owners of the Retina II have had success modifying our IIa kit to fit their camera. The square piece on the door must be trimmed at the corners, and the bottom leather requires some cutting to fit the larger spool pods. This kit will not fit the Retina II without some work! |
 |
 |
The "Bear Hug" is a single piece of leather that is cut to wrap around fully, and whose ends meet up at the bottom. You can see the point where they match up if you look carefully at the top photo on this page. This method leaves no exposed corners, but requires some dexterity and precision in both initial placement of the piece, and in guiding it as you go around each of the other 3 faces. You may also have to trim slightly one of the ends to make sure that they meet up without any overlap. This meeting point is less evident on the Red Ringmark Lizard kit shown to the left, because it's obscured by the random pattern and color, and also because the technician has done such a fabulous job! |
The seam is a only little more evident in this image. Still, it's fine work, by whomever did it . . . Back on topic, the bottom piece in a nice leather really makes the camera into a luxury item . . . add in the elegant chrome trim and the neat folding door, and you may wonder if you are not holding a jewelry box. The bottom leather is subject to the standard upcharge detailed on the pricing page. |
 |
