Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 348

 Continuing with Indian-made pens.....

(please click on images to enlarge)

Here's a Fountain Pen Revolution (FPR) 'Quickdraw' fountain pen that I purchased in a small lot of pens from YouTuber Stephen Brown (aka "sbrebrown" on YouTube) a few months ago. In addition to this bright blue colour, the pen also comes in black, orange and yellow and is available directly from Fountain Pen Revolution's webstore (for the pen's specs, check the FPR page here). Oooh, it looks like it's currently available as a BOGO--Buy One Get One FREE!

I love the lined metal cap. There is no finial on it, but that's fine with me as it's in keeping with the  pen's simple, clean design. The cap posts firmly and its clip is sturdy (and with the right amount of tension--not too much, not too little).

The FPR 'Quickdraw' is a pretty unassuming all-metal fountain pen, but its main draw (pun intended) is that it has a magnetic cap closure mechanism. The mechanism works well keeping the cap securely in place. In fact, the magnet in it is so strong that when I was removing the cap just prior to these photos...

...it pulled the nib unit right out of its section! Uh-oh....

The pen came in perfect condition from Stephen, so I'm wondering what happened. Maybe it's my bad luck with magnetic cap closures, because this isn't the first time I've had problems with them--my Visconti 'Rembrandt' fountain pen developed a serious rust problem around its magnet due to the omission of an important manufacturing step (the application of an anti-rust coating to the magnet). Later 'Rembrandt' pens don't seem to have this problem.

Anyway, back to my FPR 'Quickdraw'... If the plastic nib unit was threaded, it wouldn't have come off. Seeing as it was friction-fitted, I decided to permanently glue it back in place with some carefully-applied Gorilla Super Glue (the cyanoacrylate kind).

While we're waiting for the glue to cure, let me tell you a bit about the nib....

It's a (non-flex) #5.5 size FPR-branded chrome-plated steel nib, with a small drawing of a nib below the letters FPR written in cursive. The nib and feed are friction-fitted into the section. The nib on my particular pen is a Fine (the nib width is marked at the bottom of the nib, but isn't visible when the nib is in the section) that has a fair amount of feedback, so if you're looking for buttery-smooth, you won't find it here. Having said that, it isn't scratchy, and I haven't experienced any skips or hard-starts with it so far. It's actually growing on me...

The 'Quickdraw' model is available in five different non-flex nib widths (XF, F, M, B and a 1 mm Stub), which come with black plastic feeds. It's also available with flex nib options - "steel flex" or "steel XF ultraflex" nibs. Those flexy-nibbed 'Quickdraw' pens come with ebonite feeds and only fill via ink converter (they will not take cartridges). My pen has a non-flexy nib and takes both international cartridges or a standard converter (the latter was supplied with the pen).

There we go! The Gorilla Super Glue did the trick, and the nib unit is now staying put :)

I prefer to use the pen posted because it's well-balanced (I am a "high-gripper" though). The section is made of brushed metal and comfortable to hold, and I don't find it slippery at all. For an all-metal pen, it's very comfortable to hold because it's not too heavy and it's well-balanced when posted. Many thanks to Stephen for the pen!

 (photos & review by Maja)

To close out the month of March, we'll be featuring another Indian-made fountain pen here on Wednesday, so stay tuned....