Visconti Opera Opera Club Blue Typhoon

[chuancao]

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Just received my OPera Club Typhoon blue. Very excited. I will write a more in depth review tonight or tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some pictures. Note that because it is night here, this was taken under strong tungsten lighting. It is difficult to see the nuances of the blue. The pen writes very well and I will be using Visconti black with it for now.

 

I only had time to do two mini ink reviews and they can be found in the ink review section. MOre pictures and a full review to come, as promised above!

 

A side by side size comparison to the Aurora 88 MEdium sized pen is attached.

 

OK Full review here:

 

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First impressions

 

Compared to the box which came with my medium sized Aurora 88, the Opera Club has a better presentation. At least it tries to make the box look leathery and luxurious. The pen sits in between a satin pillow, all secured.

 

 

 

 

Appearance and Finish

Chrome plated trim, in the blue typhoon color with resin cap and barrel, 14k (white) gold nib. The pictures below do not do justice to the true beauty of the pen. The pics were taken at night under stong tungsten lighting. When I have time, I will do it during the day, attempting to reproduce the "typhoony" swirls of the different shades of blue. It looks stunningly modern, with a classical touch.

 

In my opinion the resin really rivals with celluloid in terms of color.

 

Design/Size/Weight

Length: 5 ½ inches capped, 5 1/8 inches uncapped, just under 6 ½ postedWeight: 1.2oz capped, .8oz uncapped

 

 

Filling System

Converter/Cartridge. My only concern is that the ink (visconti black) doesn't flow too well in the converter. If I let the pen sit in my pocket for too long upside down, the ink doesn't seem to be flowing back down when I use it. And when I fill in the ink, there were air bubbles in the middle. Does anyone know how to correct for flow issues within the converter? I am happy that at least it's just the converter and nothing to do with the nib itself!

 

Nib and flow

 

As mentioned above, the only issue that I have is the ink not flowing well in the converter. Perhaps this has to do with the Visconti black ink which came w/ the pen. I will try Aurora blue (which flows ever so wonderfully in the converter of my Aurora 88).

 

Besides that the pen writes luxuriously smoothly. Compared to the Aurora 88 which also writes flawlessly, this Opera Club has less "feedback" from the paper. Others would say that the Opera Club is less "toothy." I am not saying the Aurora 88 is worse. It's just a different experience!

 

And boy is the nib big, compared to the Aurora in the pic below. Visconti no longer makes two toned nibs for this color. I don't mind the all white gold look. But if it were two toned, it would look even more ostensibly luxurious.

 

All in all, a great pen. I bought it from Deb Kinney who was wonderful to deal with.

 

Hope this review helps. It is certainly longer than the crappy Aurora 88 review I did last time!

Edited February 1, 2008 by chuancao

[Shelley]

I have never got faceted pens personally - but then I have never tried one, but that pen sure looks beautiul. Try Aurora black as opposed to visconti, while the visconti coloured inks are lovely I think the black is a little washed out, or at least my bottle is...

[Sno]

Looks lovely!

[chuancao]

OK the review is finally up with pics. Sorry for the delay!

 

 

[chuancao]

OK, so the converter issue has become annoying. After a few pages of writing, the pen would STOP writing, period. I need to shake vigorously or twist the converter for the ink to go down the "drain." I am going to go home and clean the converter w/ soap water and see how that goes. I am pretty sure it's not the feeder or the nib because I can see through the tines that there's no ink left. There's no skipping. It just STOPS!

 

If you have any other suggestions, please chime in. Will keep you all posted!

[ojars]

Place a ball or spring inside the converter to help the ink move about properly. Folks at FPN have done this many times.

 

OK, so the converter issue has become annoying. After a few pages of writing, the pen would STOP writing, period. I need to shake vigorously or twist the converter for the ink to go down the "drain." I am going to go home and clean the converter w/ soap water and see how that goes. I am pretty sure it's not the feeder or the nib because I can see through the tines that there's no ink left. There's no skipping. It just STOPS!

 

If you have any other suggestions, please chime in. Will keep you all posted!

 

[sandeep108]

OK, so the converter issue has become annoying. After a few pages of writing, the pen would STOP writing, period. I need to shake vigorously or twist the converter for the ink to go down the "drain." I am going to go home and clean the converter w/ soap water and see how that goes. I am pretty sure it's not the feeder or the nib because I can see through the tines that there's no ink left. There's no skipping. It just STOPS!

 

If you have any other suggestions, please chime in. Will keep you all posted!

Patience. I had similar issues with my new Visconti Van Gogh. It kept running out of ink. I had to keep opening it and turn down the converter. A few fills/flushes later and after 3-4 weeks, it is simply perfect.

[chuancao]

OK, so the converter issue has become annoying. After a few pages of writing, the pen would STOP writing, period. I need to shake vigorously or twist the converter for the ink to go down the "drain." I am going to go home and clean the converter w/ soap water and see how that goes. I am pretty sure it's not the feeder or the nib because I can see through the tines that there's no ink left. There's no skipping. It just STOPS!

 

If you have any other suggestions, please chime in. Will keep you all posted!

Patience. I had similar issues with my new Visconti Van Gogh. It kept running out of ink. I had to keep opening it and turn down the converter. A few fills/flushes later and after 3-4 weeks, it is simply perfect.

 

Thanks right now the problem is still there even after another round of flushing. In fact, when the ink is sucked up there are tons of bubbles in the converter. Did you experience the same issue?

[chuancao]

OK just to give you all an update. Following the advice of the nibmeister Deb Kinney, I tipped a teeny weeny little bit of Dawn Dish liquid in the converter (with ink in it, not water as I did originally). And now it's flowing like River Thames. However, even with the small amount of soap I see some soap bubble inside. But it would no longer stop writing completely. Immediately afterwards, the ink flow starts and it becomes a wet writer.

 

Hope this will fix the problem. Now I feel like my writing will smell vaguely of Dawn orange flavor!

[sandeep108]

OK, so the converter issue has become annoying. After a few pages of writing, the pen would STOP writing, period. I need to shake vigorously or twist the converter for the ink to go down the "drain." I am going to go home and clean the converter w/ soap water and see how that goes. I am pretty sure it's not the feeder or the nib because I can see through the tines that there's no ink left. There's no skipping. It just STOPS!

 

If you have any other suggestions, please chime in. Will keep you all posted!

Patience. I had similar issues with my new Visconti Van Gogh. It kept running out of ink. I had to keep opening it and turn down the converter. A few fills/flushes later and after 3-4 weeks, it is simply perfect.

 

Thanks right now the problem is still there even after another round of flushing. In fact, when the ink is sucked up there are tons of bubbles in the converter. Did you experience the same issue?

Do not worry about bubbles. My Dupont converter gets tons of bubbles and they go away after an hour or so, leaving it reasonably full. Even the Visconti VG gets bubbles, I suspect I am not dipping it in till the edge of the section. Due to this at times it does not fill fully and I get bubbles, but I simply turn it upside down, tap it a bit (like when filling a syringe) force the air inside upwards and re-do the filling.