Neil
Fellow
Thanks for the opportunity to try this pen Dan. I sell a lot of one of its direct competitors, the Executive from PSI. Market for these is 80% Ladies.
First inspection, the bits:
Components from the left
Nib
Nib holder
tube (11/32 drill bit)
clip
mechanism holder
decorative band
twist mechanism
top
Plating, first class. Not a big fan of chrome, puts pens in the coke can class, but this has a real depth of colour and looks smart. Bits looked a bit confusing at first and had to refer back to Dans photo to get the bits in the right order. Very wary of what might be bleedin obvious, wouldnt be the first time I had put a pen together in the wrong order and been unable to get the bits undone!
Some of the comments below tranpired after I had made the pen so scroll down to see exactly what I mean.
No bushings, so it was turned between centres. No big deal. However, I made the assumption that with all other similar pens, it was straight barrelled. Wrong, or it could be right, but the nib holder width is narrower than the decorative band at the top, you can see this below.
Assembly was easy once I had reassured myself that there were no hidden tricks to snare me.
Step 1 decorative band over mechanism holder - band over the top, not mechanism through the band as you need to squeeze it on the pen assembly vice or similar. I have seen Steves review and would implore Dan not to get the band loosened, it must fit tight.
Step 2 Nib holder in end of blank (Pen vice)
Step 3 mechanism holder and decorative band assembly through clip and into tube (Pen Vice)
Step 4 nib screw on to nib holder
Step 5 insert refill
Step 6 Screw on Twist mechanism
Step 7 push on top (by hand)
Here's the finished pen compared to the Executive:
The pen is about half a centimetre smaller than the Executive, which as I mentioned previously was mainly bought ny Ladies, and I believe that this will be as well. Although physically shorter, it is made to feel even shorter in that the nib is longer than the executive nib, which means that you tend to hold it higher up, making it feel even shorter. The top of the pen has some engraving on it to match the decorative band which is really stylish. In my opinion the clip is too big and this picture shows how big it is in proportion to the pen. In the main Ladies dont want or need clips on their pens as they end up in bags, they are there because they would look odd without them, but this is too big. You can see the top assembly is thicker than the nib, good or not I am unsure. Cant see that it would look good tapered though. The nib is long and your fingers slip down the pen if you hold it near the end. The Executive has that decoration of two small beads to provide two functions, a bit of grip and to hide any dimensional differential between the two surfaces. Might have been really smart to have another band matching the top between the blank and the nib and the nib to be a bit shorter, that would provide grip, help hide any small differences and balance it aesthetically.
The mechanism on this pen is superb, very smooth and far exceeds the quality of the PSI kit. On my kit the supplied tube was too long, didnt measure it but when I came to put it together the refill nib didn't extend far enough so I had to take it apart and sand the blank back, probably by around 1.5mm and it could still do wityh about another 0.5mm taking off. Pu that down to not being a production model.
In its present form, price being right, this is going to be a lovely kit and will capture a segment of the market that is really only filled with the executive from vinny at the moment. However, the market will be confined to small handed women unless you can make a small amendment to the nib to make the section of the pen that you hold longer.
Bring it on Dan, quickly please, and along with your other kits, please offer spare tubes.
First inspection, the bits:
Components from the left
Nib
Nib holder
tube (11/32 drill bit)
clip
mechanism holder
decorative band
twist mechanism
top
Plating, first class. Not a big fan of chrome, puts pens in the coke can class, but this has a real depth of colour and looks smart. Bits looked a bit confusing at first and had to refer back to Dans photo to get the bits in the right order. Very wary of what might be bleedin obvious, wouldnt be the first time I had put a pen together in the wrong order and been unable to get the bits undone!
Some of the comments below tranpired after I had made the pen so scroll down to see exactly what I mean.
No bushings, so it was turned between centres. No big deal. However, I made the assumption that with all other similar pens, it was straight barrelled. Wrong, or it could be right, but the nib holder width is narrower than the decorative band at the top, you can see this below.
Assembly was easy once I had reassured myself that there were no hidden tricks to snare me.
Step 1 decorative band over mechanism holder - band over the top, not mechanism through the band as you need to squeeze it on the pen assembly vice or similar. I have seen Steves review and would implore Dan not to get the band loosened, it must fit tight.
Step 2 Nib holder in end of blank (Pen vice)
Step 3 mechanism holder and decorative band assembly through clip and into tube (Pen Vice)
Step 4 nib screw on to nib holder
Step 5 insert refill
Step 6 Screw on Twist mechanism
Step 7 push on top (by hand)
Here's the finished pen compared to the Executive:
The pen is about half a centimetre smaller than the Executive, which as I mentioned previously was mainly bought ny Ladies, and I believe that this will be as well. Although physically shorter, it is made to feel even shorter in that the nib is longer than the executive nib, which means that you tend to hold it higher up, making it feel even shorter. The top of the pen has some engraving on it to match the decorative band which is really stylish. In my opinion the clip is too big and this picture shows how big it is in proportion to the pen. In the main Ladies dont want or need clips on their pens as they end up in bags, they are there because they would look odd without them, but this is too big. You can see the top assembly is thicker than the nib, good or not I am unsure. Cant see that it would look good tapered though. The nib is long and your fingers slip down the pen if you hold it near the end. The Executive has that decoration of two small beads to provide two functions, a bit of grip and to hide any dimensional differential between the two surfaces. Might have been really smart to have another band matching the top between the blank and the nib and the nib to be a bit shorter, that would provide grip, help hide any small differences and balance it aesthetically.
The mechanism on this pen is superb, very smooth and far exceeds the quality of the PSI kit. On my kit the supplied tube was too long, didnt measure it but when I came to put it together the refill nib didn't extend far enough so I had to take it apart and sand the blank back, probably by around 1.5mm and it could still do wityh about another 0.5mm taking off. Pu that down to not being a production model.
In its present form, price being right, this is going to be a lovely kit and will capture a segment of the market that is really only filled with the executive from vinny at the moment. However, the market will be confined to small handed women unless you can make a small amendment to the nib to make the section of the pen that you hold longer.
Bring it on Dan, quickly please, and along with your other kits, please offer spare tubes.
