I bought a near-mint 1963 Pacemaker Crown 4x5 Top RF "Special" w/Xenar at a real bargain; however, it is a real "stinker." It cleaned up to look almost "like-new." The camera must have been stored in a basement and it smells like a moldy gym shoe. The glass, rf windows, ground glass and fresnel are spotless, to my surprise, no fungus. I have wiped down all of the camera surfaces with a soft cloth and lens cleaner, but it still stinks to high heaven. I've now opened up the camera, removed the lensboard and graflok, and am letting it air out in the darkroom. I can smell the thing from at least five feet away. I guess the Honduras mahogany really holds the odor. Any advice? Febreeze?

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On 2003-09-14 19:38, Jim23 wrote: I bought a near-mint 1963 Pacemaker Crown 4x5 Top RF "Special" w/Xenar at a real bargain; however, it is a real "stinker." It cleaned up to look almost "like-new." The camera must have been stored in a basement and it smells like a moldy gym shoe. The glass, rf windows, ground glass and fresnel are spotless, to my surprise, no fungus. I have wiped down all of the camera surfaces with a soft cloth and lens cleaner, but it still stinks to high heaven. I've now opened up the camera, removed the lensboard and graflok, and am letting it air out in the darkroom. I can smell the thing from at least five feet away. I guess the Honduras mahogany really holds the odor. Any advice? Febreeze?

My wife's suggestion is "try a room with a window"!
I would suggest a day or two outside in the dry sunlight (the camera could be in the shadows).
If it's mold, mildew or fungus, you'd have to use something like Lysol cleaner to kill it and I doubt that would even kill all types of such things? But a light spray and then a fresh air airing out may work. It sounds like something that should be killed before it damages the wood though!

Another thought. You would also have to spray the inside of the bellows. It's a vinyl covered cloth after all and nothing from the outside will soak through...




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RichS on 2003-09-14 19:58 ]</font>

One of the mildewcides we used at the Henry Ford Museum was thymol crystals.

Most of its use was on paper and we made a chamber out of an old paper drum.
In practice you fumigate the item with the vapors of the crystals. We heated the crystals by placing a tin can over a 40 watt bulb and laying the crystals on top of the can. the subject was placed on a rack above and to the side.

For safety reasons, we put the drum in front of our spray booth just in case. I suppose the same thing could be done outside

Years later I found an old GE vacuum tube case covered with mold. The case would be similar but smaller than most of the canvas covered Graphic cases we all know about. I didn't have the drum or the time to mess around with the heated chamber so I put some crystals in and around the interior of the case, closed it up and left it for a while.

It sure killed the mildew, but it was 6 months or more before I got the Thymol smell out! guess it's better to use it the right way.

Try putting the camera in a sealed box with an open container of Baking Soda and a soup dish filled with vinager. That should get rid of the stink.