Green gunk on Soviet Cameras

Having Bill Parkinson (nightphoto) mention green oxidation on his Kiev camera in another thread, brings me to this topic. I may be wrong and it may really be oxidation, but this green gunk you guys are seeing on the cameras is a Russian-made polishing agent, like Brasso here in the States... I kept finding it on the cameras that got sent to me from Ukraine, and I was thinking the same thing since I never polished metal back in USSR, until my son's Russian nanny told me that they used it back in Russia all the time.. now my question is for you who know what I'm talking about, what was the name for this polisher?

Vlad.

The simplest way to remove the green gunk also called "vert-gris" is to clean with oxalic acid. They are commercilly sold in various shops.
In Brazil the best known commercial brand is Semorin but there are others. If you cannot find it, use a concentrate tomato juice. Its action is instantaneous.
LP

I use Brasso for these same purposes here. But what that green stuff is called - I actually was talking to another photographer this morning who used this compound, he said the name for this green stuff is "Goya Paste". Just FYI.. I guess I kind of answered my own post there :).

Vlad

Tomato juice? Wow.. Didn't know that one... thanks for the cool tip!

Vlad