Delta Fountainpen.it 500

[Raskolnikov]

Hi everyone!

 

With a noticeable delay, here I'm posting a review of the Delta FP.it 500 pen.

Just few words in advance: this pen was made by Delta in tight cooperation with Daniele, administrator of the fountainpen.it forum, your italian cousin Its purpose was to celebrate the 500 members mark. We're now almost 800, who knows what the next goal's gonna be In the meantime we'd like to show you our little creature. This is a limited edition, although a peculiar kind: members had a one month time window to reserve it, so only a limited number of pens was built.

 

It's important to note that Delta implemented its new Fusion nib for the first time on this model.

But I've already said too much; what follows is our forum's official review, straight from one of our most prominent and expert hands: Alessandro, aka vikingo60 (to whom, by the way, I owe much of all I know in this field).

The pictures were taken by Giovanni Paolo, aka G P M P, another member of our forum and skilled photographer. He's also present here with the same nickname.

I wrote some sketches and writing samples/comparisons for the review to be more complete

There goes it:

 

With much pleasure and deep joy I’m here to write a review of “our” pen, the Fountainpen.it Forum 500 Delta.

 

http://i.imgur.com/aCCshh.jpg

 

One of our administrators, Daniele, along with all of us, strongly insisted on having this pen made.

His persistence was admirable and Delta was commendable too having given its full availability: this pen is infact Delta at its best.

Our goal was to aim to something original, with a traditional piston filling mechanism, which had to be a bridge between something not that easily linked: modernity and classicism, without neglecting affordability. In my opinion, this goal was successfully reached.

 

The shape of the pen is a flat top type. It was built by directly turning full resin bars. This makes the pen more robust and valuable. The details are perfect, the pen shows no flaws or manifacturing defects.

 

http://i.imgur.com/i6phWh.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/sJWeNh.jpg

 

Finishes are rhodium plated, while there is a gold plated ring on the cap, on the centre of the trim.

The resin we chose is of a gorgeous and elegant dark grey striated colour.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Xh59sh.jpg

 

The screw-in cap shows a glazed metal top which shows our forum’s icon where other Delta usually show the factory logo (two mirrored nibs).

The very functional clip is placed straight under the cap’s head and ends up with the classic small wheel to ease the insertion in a pocket.

 

At the base of the cap there’s a, like said above, rhodium plated trim which shows the mark “500” and the writing “Fountain pen.it Forum”.

 

http://i.imgur.com/BwG0Qh.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/DEOoIh.jpg

 

 

The serial number is located on the back side of the cap.

 

http://i.imgur.com/LPfu0h.jpg

 

 

The pen ends in a removable screw-in back knob, which covers the piston filling mechanism rotating wheel. Note that this cover doesn’t have an inner metal threading (unlike the Dolcevita series) which would have been preferable although it would have needed the cover to be bigger in size.

 

 

As we follow the pen lines toward its centre, we see that its circumference increasing until we meet the transparent ink window, which is visible even when the pen is closed.

The width shrinks then a tiny bit where we find the rounded section.

The nib/section part is made of a plastic feeder and the fusion nib, the new Delta’s invention which was launched along with this very model.

The Fusion nib is made of a steel base fused with a yellow gold 18k plaque. On its base we can see the nib size’s indication, a medium in my case.

The nib air hole is rounded.

The interaction of the two different metals, as stated by Delta, is meant to take advantage of the different thermic properties of such materials, which should result in a more fluid ink flow, due to the slight increase of temperature resulting from the use of the pen.

 

Aesthethics, materials and finishes are perfect: 10/10.

The filling system, as stated above, is piston activated. The latter is the known Delta’s brass piston; great quality, with a safety system which warns the user that the tank is full with some delicate clicks , so that there’s no way he’ll force it further as the piston will just uselessy rotate producing that charachteristic noise.

Only few prestigious producers (E.G. Tibaldi) implement such sophisticated technique.

Also, the piston head is held by three sealing layers, preventing the ink from seeping.

 

http://i.imgur.com/xTLOIh.jpg

 

Before testing the pen, I rinsed it three times with cold water, as usual. The water came out clean.

The tank’s capacity is impressive.

I used the Delta Black which was sent by the producer itself as a small gift (I appreciated the kind thought). This ink isn’t the most fluid or dark out there, so the final result is more in the lines of a dark gray.

The flow is very abundant (as I like!) but still very precise and controlled.

The M nib writes wider than other Delta’s M.The writing emotional feedback is wonderful: no hesitant start ups, wet flow and great responsiveness.

The pen literally flies over the sheet. So in the end the nib keeps its promises (probably also due to the fact that the feeder is quite large).

I think that this ample but still precise flow will be able to satisfy those who prefer thinner lines too.

Writing rate: 10/10.

 

Conclusions:

 

Our celebrative pen, although substantially a limited edition, is still sober and shows no flamboyancy. Its lines will be common grounds for those who love classicism (like me) and those who prefer modernity.

An added value is the innovative element of the described fusion nib.

The pen is also comfortable to hold although quite large in size and allows long writing sessions with no risk for the user of getting wrist-fatigued.

Although it’s possible to write with the pen posted, it’s not suggested as it becomes very long and unbalanced (toward the bottom).

I can’t add more, if not my thanks to GPMP for the precious pictures he let us use for this review (I would have never been able to shot such beautiful pics). By the way, I’ll add a link to his album for those who’d like to see them with a higher resolution : http://imgur.com/a/XAHKp .

 

Again, my heartfelt thanks to Daniele for his commitment in this endeavor and to Delta which allowed us to have such a wonderful writing instrument.

 

My best regards,

 

Alessandro

 

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c234/Towelfree/Scan_0002.jpg

 

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c234/Towelfree/Scan_0003.jpg

 

Review Alessandro aka vikingo60 on Fountainpen.it forum

Pictures by Giovanni Paolo / G P M P on Fountainpen.it forum and on FPN

Translation and writing samples by Rogozin on Fountainpen.it forum (Raskolnikov on FPN)

Edited December 6, 2012 by Raskolnikov

[jacksterp]

A stunning pen to say the least. Positively gorgeous!

 

I'd bet many folks on this forum would love to have one - myself included.

[WOBentley]

very nice pen indeed! Congratulations!

[colex]

 

This is mine... Numbered 80's! Delta quality & customer support is outstanding

 

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/RLcPa.jpg

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/6VTWJ.jpg

 

 

Sorry for the poor quality of pics!

[enricof]

[jandrese]

Wow, very nice, thanks for the good review. I'm going to add a pen with one of these nibs to my Delta stable.

[G P M P]

Hi guys! My pen (#3, you know ...) is the one in the pictures (that I actually shot ).

Great job, Rogozin/Raskolnikov!

[tdeecy]

Gad! What a stunning fountain pen! Its proportions, colors, mix of materials are beautiful.

Someone is leaving quite a legacy making these works of art.

 

T/

[georges zaslavsky]

very nice and interesting pen thanks for sharing