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Feathertouch Pelikan — A Frankenpen


Kiolden

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At an antique shop the other day I ran across a "Pelikan 120" body without a nib. It was clean and seemed inexpensive so I bought it, hoping my M400 nib unit might work. I haven't been able to test that yet, as my M400 is currently in another state, but based on some brief research it sounds like it probably won't be compatible. Its one of the newer ones I believe, with the tapered cap band. If any one can give me some tips for identifying the version more accurately without the help of a nib, that'd be much appreciated.

 

In any case, to me there's not much fun in having one nib for two pens, so I decided to try a little project. I have an old beat up Sheaffer Touchdown filler — plain, worn, no white dot. Its probably not worth having the filler professionally restored, and I haven't felt motivated to learn about the procedure myself, so the pen has gone unused. But it has a pretty nice nib — a "Feathertouch No. 5".

 

I've never done anything like this before, and I'm no mechanical genius. I simply friction-fitted the Sheaffer's nib and feed to the Pelikan's body with a combination of teflon tape and thin plastic card. How'd it turn out? Not too bad! It writes quite well actually, and so far doesn't seem to be leaking. It probably isn't the sturdiest assembly, but after writing a few pages its holding up fine. I was worried that the nib and feed would be somehow misaligned, or that the pen wouldn't fill without the right sort of collar around the base of the feed, but there haven't been any problems.

 

It writes a relatively wet medium, smooth but with a little tooth and noise. The nib feels softer than it looks — there's not much line variation at all, but it's no nail. It seems to flex a little without really spreading the tines.

 

Where before I had one beat up pen with a troublesome filling system and a good nib, and another handsome piston filler with no nib, I now have a strange but very usable pen. Best of all it has only cost me $10 in total.

 

Pictures below. It does look slightly awkward because of how far the nib and feed are sunk into the section — this seemed to provide the best stability for the nib.

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Nice to see a good review of a frankenpen and good to see that your project seems to be working out. I may have to do a review of my Rexall BCHR with a sheaffer lifetime nib.

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Your Pelikan is a Merz and Krell 120 from the 1970s.

 

Were you perhaps inspired by this post? Someone else in Sept also fitted a Sheaffer nib to a M&K 120.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/167642-taking-apart-a-pelikan-120-merz-krell/page__p__1680471#entry1680471

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