Replacing Leatherette of Hasselblad Camera

My Hasselblad 501CM and A12 magazine have been serving me already for 21 years. As with many old cameras, the original leatherette begins to peel off and falling apart. So I think that this is the right time for a replacement.

I order the kit set from Aki-Asahi in Nagoya and the delivery to Hong Kong is quick, about 10 days.

All of these leatherette are pre-cut and self adhesive. The hardest job is to remove the old skin and also the old adhesive. So I start peeling off the skin first, then use my finger to rub the old adhesive off and finally use a small flat head screwdriver to remove the last bit of aged adhesive. Then I use a cotton swab with 75% alcohol to clean the metal surface and finally, use a small brush to clean off the last debris of old leatherette and adhesive.

I first begin to test with the easiest part first – the viewfinder!

Video

After finishing the viewfinder, I get used to the technique and then I move ahead to the A12N magazine. First of all, I need to remove the dark slide holder in the A12N. There are 4 small screws inside to be removed and the holder will automatically come off.

Then I continue to work on the body of 501CM, using the same routine.

Warning: The following image may contain nudity which is not suitable for children under 13……XDDD

After almost an hour of work, finally new leatherette on the camera!

Success!

You can see the new leatherette has different pattern than the original one. The new one is thicker and the “pebble” is coarser. Anyway, this is absolutely OK for me and I hope the newly skinned camera will work for me for another 20 years.