December 2012: Revue 4 (Fed 4)

The owner of the Fed 5 I just repaired sent me this "Revue 4". It is a Fed 4 renamed for the German distributor Foto-Quelle.
The shutter curtains are jammed, the selftimer is off, the leatherette of the back is unstuck...

The curtains straps got unstuck, and are wound in the gears. Easiest solution: replacement. The timer was blocked by a piece of film sandwiched between two gears, it is in perfect condition.

From a distance, the Fed 4 and 5 hulls appear identical. In fact, they are different enough not to be interchangeable. The solution seemed to be taking a complete Fed 5 shutter and mount it in place of the one of the 4 (I have a lot of ten defective Fed 5 purchased "for parts"). But the axles are different (foreground Fed "Revue" 4, second Fed 5). To complicate the matter, holes and threads along the two axles are slightly different, it's not possible to exchange them, I'll have to take off the recovery curtains and stick them on the original parts. I will notice later that even the mounting holes on the bottom front of shutters are not at the same place!

Here are the new curtains reattached, ready to join the shutter block. It took me several hours (two evenings) of trial and error before finding the correct position of "first curtain": pre-positioning using double-sided tape, partial reassembly of the shutter, marking, disassembly, re-positioning, etc.. I used the body and the shutter block of a "sacrificed" Fed 5 during these manipulations, at this level of operations they are perfectly compatible. Now I have improved my method compared to replacing the curtain of my Zaria (in "DIY"): once 100% sure of my positioning, I substitute (in two times!) my double-sided adhesive for neoprene glue

Some touch up black paint on the frame and back while I work on the curtains.

The shutter assembled (and tried in a Fed 5 body), ready to put back together (and do not forget first to fit the timer!). The plastic baffle on the bottom does not exist on any camera I've already seen.

As I show, within this shutter assembly usually there is here a piece of metal, including on the Fed 4 of my collection. And bonus the location of the timer! (the lever must be removed before refitting...)

I removed some of the items (cocking, rewinding, rangefinder) for cleaning and light lubrication. Reassembling the shutter will still take some time: I forgot "the" washers, then I "jumped" a tooth, then the film advance is out of sync with the position allowing to release the shutter... Finally everything is perfect and I can reassemble!

After the shutter and long exposures timer, I reassembled the cocking mechanism, the rewinding, the rangefinder. I restuck the leatherette of the back and have it reassembled. Laid in front of a Fed 5, you can see that the axles of the speed selector knobs are different (hence the difference of the main axles of the shutters). The shape of the rangefinders and long exposure timers are also different, and their attachments to the hull at other locations. They are not interchangeable.

To finish, disassembly, cleaning and reassembly of the various elements of the top cover and adjusting the rangefinder.
And voila!