cleaning a no.2 beau brownie

Today someone gave me this old camera.

Unfortunetly the viewfinders are very dirty (cant see trough them).

Also, shutter release etc. are very dirty and thus >stickky<.

Is there any chance of getting this thing clean and working again?

(I don't see how to open the front and clean things up)

Thanks for any advice,

Bas van Dijk

To do this you need to remove the front panel, by pulling out variuos pins and little nails. The panel complete with front lens element should then come off but it is a difficult trick as the shutter and other operating levers have to be somehow extracted.

Then clean the lenses, mirrors and get the shutter working.

Note that the little viewfinders are never clear on these cameras - they are made of frosted glass for some reason.

Then reverse the process to replace the front, again awkward because of the operating levers.

BUT - my advice would be to leave well alone - the Beau Brownie seems to be one of the most collectable because of the colours etc, its cosmetic condition could be as important as whether it works or not. It would be difficult not to cause some external damage when doing the work. try and find a more practical / less valuable camera to work on and hopefully use.

I agree I'd leave it best alone.

I was sort of hoping of finding some sort of "dry-cleaning" -method.

You know, using some kind of dissolvent to clean out the dirt without taking the thingy apart, which

would kill its appearance. This doesn't seems very realistic though.

Besides I've got an Agfa Clack (6x9) and Isola (6x6) that'll alow some experimenting with 120 film.

Thanks for your reply,

Bye,

Bas