Congratulations on your purchase! It's a lovely camera to actually use and (as you now know) very lightweight for a SLR. Unfortunately that's partly down to the thinner gauge metal used on the top and bottom plates which, as you've noticed, isn't up to the job of hammering nails in the same way the Spotmatic was.

My copy's only got one tiny dent in the top plate so I figure that's probably as close as I'll get to perfection - certainly not seen any better ones in the flesh!

Very nice indeed! Now you'll be wanting a genuine Pentax 46mm filter to go on the front?

If you get a rubber screw-in hood then they're usually extendable in two stages. Try it fully extended first and if you can see it in the periphery then wind it back to the half-way position. If you're using it on a DSLR then a general purpose hood would probably suffice.

I love #6 (Instant Pool Party) - might just have to get me one of those...

Right-click the Remote Assistant icon and go to "Run as Administrator" - should work then.

You could try ringing one of the Pentax repair specialists and see if they can help. The two who get recommended a lot around here are www.asahiphoto.co.uk and harrowtechnical.co.uk. Failing that you'll have to get another scrap K2 body and take it apart to see what's what.

The service manual for the K2 can be downloaded here: http://www.pentax-manuals.com/manuals/service/k2_sm.pdf

Good luck!

And you've got the Nurburgring to play on, so you might find my pity is in short supply...

You've heard the expression "taking candy from a baby"? Well kids are easily distracted these days...

Nice try, but I'm pretty sure there's not a person left in the world who can have Internet access but can't find a car to photograph, even if it's only a toy one...