Last week, I decided it was time to refurbish my SX-70 Polaroid camera. I'd purchased a new covering for it last month at the NY Impossible Project Space. The first picture was the current state of my camera. The camera is older than I am, and the original vinyl covering on it was in a pretty pathetic state. I'd pull the camera out of my bag and pieces of it would flake off. This was purely an aesthetic refurbishment; the mechanical workings of the camera are in perfect shape.
It took me four days, two stab wounds, lots of delicate scraping and three rounds of applying Goo-Gone to fully remove the old adhesive. What the heck were they using to glue this down in the '70's? Holy crow! I was told that there should have been metal plates on all the panels, like you can see in the middle picture, but my camera only had it on one small section. If you decide to undertake this project, use a glass scraper. I started off with an x-acto blade, hence the two puncture wounds. Be very gentle with whatever tool you use because the frame of the camera is made of plastic. Only use Automotive Goo-Gone, which is approved to use on plastic.
This camera is a labor of love, but I'm thrilled with the results. I put two coats of protective sealant on the new vinyl because I am NEVER repeating this process. Now who wants to go shoot some Polaroids?
I've started to upload my SX-70 shots onto Flickr. You can check those out here.
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