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Platinum Preppy


ChrisTK

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Soooo... This is my first review! As title says, it is about the Platinum Preppy and some modifications i made on it, some minutes after i used it. Let's start...

 

Price:

I bought it for about $3 as a set of one pen and 3 ink cartridges by Platinum (blue black).

 

First Impression and Appearance:

To be honest, i had already read some reviews of the pen, so i was sure about what to expect. Although it costs under $3 without the inks, i was really impressed when i first used it! I like it more than the Varsity and the 78g when i hold it. It is made from plastic but looks solid (and it is!). I like the different colors of the nib and the top of the cap. I also like the fact the I can remove the nib and clean the pen easier.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1517/20130329204212.jpghttp://img542.imageshack.us/img542/958/20130307002542.jpg

 

Filling system:

It uses the Platinum cartridges and the Platinum converter. Because the body is made of plastic, it is suitable to transform it to an eyedropper.

 

Nib:

It came with a 0.3 (F for someone?) steel nib that writes really good. It is not as smooth as i have read in other reviews (it is smoother than my Parker but not as my Lamy Safari or my Hero 616 Jumbo). It has a good ink flow and i haven't seen any skipping although i use it in some lessons or when i was at work and i had to write really fast. It is not flex and it has no line variation.

 

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3300/20130307002257.jpg

 

Who needs an eyedropper?

 

I used the pen for some minutes and while i was writing i was watching the clear barrel and thought about how much ink can it hold inside? So... i made an eyedropper with a clear body!

 

What i needed:

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5599/20130307003032.jpg http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/4410/20130307003806.jpg

 

1. one Platinum Preppy ( :-P )

2. a bottle of alcohol

3. a strong glue or silicone and the rubber "O" ring

4. some toilet or kitchen paper or a towel

5. a syringe with the needle

6. a bottle of ink with the ink you would like to use

 

Modding:

1. I had to uncap the pen and then unscrew the grip section from the barrel and remove the nib from the grip section (just grab the nib and pull out gently), as shown to the following images.

 

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9356/20130307002137.jpg http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/7020/20130307002635.jpg

 

2. Use some alcohol on paper or on a towel to clean the barrel so that it will look like the body of a demonstrator.It took me 2-3 minutes.

 

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6027/20130307003157.jpg

 

3. Place some silicone on the place that the barrel screws with the grip section and then place the "O" ring OR what I did... I used some strong glue and then i screwed back the barrel (without using a ring)and now it is impossible to unscrew the grip section and the barrel (if you try it will crack). I left it for 3 minutes to stuck.

 

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/1096/20130307003435.jpg

 

4. I used the syringe to suck some ink from the bottle and fill the barrel by inserting the needle inside the hole that appears after you remove the nib. I used a 5ml syringe and i had to suck two times ink from the bottle.

 

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1261/20130307004420.jpg

 

5. I placed back the nib and then the Platinum Preppy Eyedropper-Demonstrator is ready!!! :-D

 

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4122/20130307004503.jpg http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2341/20130307004624.jpg

Edited by ChrisTK
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Nicely done. Preppies make wonderful eyedropper pens. They are a surprisingly good pen for their low cost.

 

 

edit typo

Edited by myn

"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when open." James Dewar

http://i49.tinypic.com/2j26aaa.png

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Interesting, I just picked up a Varsity today, I might have to check one of these out too!

 

Thanks for the write up.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qVJOiluU9_4/THp4f_4pakI/AAAAAAAAA14/_d-MITGtqvY/s320/InkDropLogoFPN2.jpg

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I like the preppy, I'm a sucker for demonstrators. I bought the 7-pack and I think only one out of the bunch was finicky starter. So far none have cracked, though I hear that's a possiibility.

 

Edit...I didn't know the feed pulled out. Neat! Thanks for pointing that out, I may go off feed-pulling now....

Edited by hot cocoa
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  • 3 months later...

THANK YOU! Your demonstration is what I was looking for. Thank you especially for telling how to remove the printed stuff from the barrel and for the magnificent idea to fill the pen by removing the nib, since this is much easier than screwing off the barrel.

 

I will follow you religiously, as soon as the seven Preppies I ordered from a shop in Japan will have arrived, but I will do one more thing: I will replace the Preppy nibs with Lamy nibs. I have done that on the two Preppies I had as gifts with big Noodler's bottles, and it works beautifully. It takes some determintation to pull the Preppy nibs from the feeds, and I am not sure if I could remove the Lamy nibs again, but there is no need for it at the moment, and I don't think there'll ever be.

 

Your fellow sucker for demonstrators,

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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  • 4 months later...

THANK YOU! Your demonstration is what I was looking for. Thank you especially for telling how to remove the printed stuff from the barrel and for the magnificent idea to fill the pen by removing the nib, since this is much easier than screwing off the barrel.

 

I will follow you religiously, as soon as the seven Preppies I ordered from a shop in Japan will have arrived, but I will do one more thing: I will replace the Preppy nibs with Lamy nibs. I have done that on the two Preppies I had as gifts with big Noodler's bottles, and it works beautifully. It takes some determintation to pull the Preppy nibs from the feeds, and I am not sure if I could remove the Lamy nibs again, but there is no need for it at the moment, and I don't think there'll ever be.

 

Your fellow sucker for demonstrators,

 

 

Hello Strombomboli!!! I would like to see a photo of your modification!!! Please!!!!! It sounds great having a Lamy nib on it!

Edited by ChrisTK
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Hello Strombomboli!!! I would like to see a photo of your modification!!! Please!!!!! It sounds great having a Lamy nib on it!

Please forgive me, but right now, I have the flu and am too dull to take photographs which is not done quickly in this house, and to be true, there is not much to see. I will take pictures, though, when I'm better.

 

The Preppy nib plastic thing, i.e., the part of the feeder on which you put the nib, is a tiny bit too large for a Lamy nib. In the beginning, I forced the nibs on, which had the result that it's almost impossible to remove them again without bending them. Which is bad when they were not put on well. Later, I carved this plastic part a little bit (tiny bit) on the left and right sides wiht a razor blade, that's much better.

 

Most of these Frankenpens write very well. But since the Preppies are not made for broad nibs (I use OB and 1.5 mm stub nibs), the ink flow is very generous in the beginning and then becomes a little less wet, but never dry. For example, Noodler's Habanero first looks truly red, and the turns to orange (thus, you can see the shading range of this gorgeous ink). Diamine Bilberry first looks blue-black, and then becomes purple; I don't mind that, because it's supposed to be purple.

 

Still, the Preppies never become dry in the way a TWSBI will run dry after two lines of writing. (Disclaimer: not all of them, and so forth, but still, I'm always thinking about the pen and hoping it will behave when writing with one of my TSWBI 580s.)

 

So it's a pleasure to write with my Preppy Frankenpens; I like them very much!

Edited by Strombomboli

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Chris TK,

What type of alcohol did you use to remove the printed writing on the Preppy barrel? Also, what type of towel?

I tried to remove with the following and had no luck:

91% Isopropyl alcohol ("rubbing alcohol")

GooGone citrus stain remover

Coleman fuel (white lantern gas)

 

A leather cleaning solvent (acetone+methyl-ethyl ketones) clouded the plastic.

 

How did you do it?

Thanks for any help you could suggest

Thanks,

Greg (Microgrs)

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If you use strong glue to seal the barrel, how do you refill your pen? Do you remove the nib and use a syringe to fill the pen?

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I tried to remove with the following and had no luck

 

I couldn't remove anything with alcohol either, so I used a razorblade to scrape off all that writing on the pen. This is not a method for perfectionists, though, but for the others it is okay.

 

If you use strong glue to seal the barrel, how do you refill your pen? Do you remove the nib and use a syringe to fill the pen?

 

Yes, that's what he does, judging from what he told us. Why not take a look at the pictures posted above, or even read what he has written?

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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Please, does anyone know how well the Preppy resists drying out when capped?

I've forgot about a small group of them in a separate pen case in a desk for a few months. They wrote from the moment the nibs first touched paper again.

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Hi Chris TK,

What type of alcohol did you use to remove the printed writing on the Preppy barrel? Also, what type of towel?

I tried to remove with the following and had no luck:

91% Isopropyl alcohol ("rubbing alcohol")

GooGone citrus stain remover

Coleman fuel (white lantern gas)

 

A leather cleaning solvent (acetone+methyl-ethyl ketones) clouded the plastic.

 

How did you do it?

Thanks for any help you could suggest

Thanks,

Greg (Microgrs)

 

Try using nailpolish remover. You might have to rinse it with water afterward, to remove the stench and the stickiness of the substance.

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Nail polish remover works incredibly fast, and while wiping off the writing on the pen, it also transforms it from a transparent one to an opaque one, and I don't know how much the plastic is damaged by this, i.e., if it will become permeable to liquids. I haven't used the pen I treated with nail polish remover yet, but I'd say, be cautious.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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Nail polish remover works incredibly fast, and while wiping off the writing on the pen, it also transforms it from a transparent one to an opaque one, and I don't know how much the plastic is damaged by this, i.e., if it will become permeable to liquids. I haven't used the pen I treated with nail polish remover yet, but I'd say, be cautious.

 

I wouldn't know the long term effects, but I've been using a VPen for about three months with no problems. And I wouldn't say opaque, just slightly translucent. Caution is never a bad thing, though.

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And I wouldn't say opaque, just slightly translucent.

 

Yes, that's the correct term. I hadn't used it, because it's only in my passive vocabulary.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Are those stickers on the side of the barrel, and can you remove them to have a completely clear barrel?

They're not stickers, but printed on the barrel themselves. Removal methods discussed above.

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Are those stickers on the side of the barrel, and can you remove them to have a completely clear barrel?

 

I found the sticker removal method for perfectionists: buff it off with a linnen wheel on a lathe on low speed (~1500 rpm). Takes just a couple of minutes. I believe it's also possible to do it by hand. If I was to try that, I'd use some kind of car polishing compound. Of course, this would take somewhat longer. ;-)

Best regards,

Klaus

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