Bessa R top removal

[steckmeyer]

My beloved Bessa R has a problem. The little plastic window over the frame counter fell in and disappeared. I am concerned that it will jam the winder. I want to take the top off, find it and reinstall it but the top removal sequence is not obvious. I have had the top off my QL 17, a few Zorkie’s and Kiev’s so I have the tools and I’m sure it can be done. Gandy wants $175 just to look at it! Any advice or guidance will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[clintock]

It's easy:
http://homepage.mac.com/jaeder/.cv/jaeder/Sites/.Public/bessatop.pdf-zip.zip

I hope that link works.. if not let me know, it's a thrown together pdf I made mostly in case I forgot how to get the thing back together.
At the time, lots of people were whining about skewed frame lines in the bessa, so I took it upon myself to see how hard it really was to get to the insides of the top.

In short- the self timer lever comes off so you can pull off the plastic leather textured cover panels which are held on with double stick tape. Under those panels are the hidden screws, one near each strap lug. Also the hot shoe needs to come off, which involves getting that thin metal cover off. The frame selector stays on, but the advance and rewind come off.

A good project for this forum would be an open-source bessa repair manual.

[steckmeyer]

Thank you! This is exactly what I need.

[gcardenal]

Hi, could you please post the link again? It doesn't work. I have the same problem and I'm looking also for a solution.

Thanks a lot in advance.
Regards,
Guillem