I'm a big fan of stainless steel, silver, iridium, platinum, etc. I don't like gold on my pens. I don't like the color.

Given that and the fact that I'm in the market for a new Parker 51, I really want a flighter. But...do they all have gold on the clip and ring? Are there any flighters without gold?

I believe the later flighters did not have the gold band on the cap. They also seem to be more rare though.

Well, that's bad news, but I knew I was dreaming. I'm a user not a collector, so I'm not really in the market for a super-rare "51," though I'm willing to pay for a flighter.

Next question: If I buy a nice shiny stainless flighter, can I stick on the stainless cap from my ordinary aerometric? Or will it not fit? I want a purely white metal flighter soooo bad

What you seek is one of the rarer Parker Flighters, the later ones without the Gold Band, so even a user grade one will cost you $$$$. And I think that they still had a GP Clip, but you could get it swapped, but would you want to do that to an expensive pen?

Now putting a Lustraloy cap on to a flighter body, yes it will fit, no it won't match

The finish is different, the Lustraloy caps have a frosted finish, whereas the Flighters are a brished finished, so it id different. I would suggest getting a 61 Flighter, but then they still have a GP Clip, so no deal there.

What you could do is contact Ralph Prather, he would make you a Titanium "51" Vac and you could have a plain cap on that, in fact you could get an old Lustraloy cap, and have that converted to a brushed finish, I have had this done on an old Aerometric cap that was a really beat up and it made it quite acceptable. This too will cost mucho $$$$$

I think that this response should fade out to the Theme from Mission Impossible

Jim

Shhhhh! here is a flighter - ebay no. 290031027886

I spotted a bandless flighter on ebay only a few days ago, from the seller's description they were not aware the model and value - just looking back it must have ended....

I guess I've seen 3 on ebay in the last couple of months so keep checking and one day....one will be yours.

Out of curiosity I put a lustralloy cap on my flighter and Jim is right - they don't match - although it doesn't just scream out at you "doesn't match"! My flighter is fairly user grade and has seen some use, as has my burgundy aero (lustralloy cap donor) so as they both have a reasonable number of swirls, light scratchs, mars and shinier spot it is less noticeable in regular use. But put the caps side by side and, well, it is quite obvious that they are a different finish.

I suppose you could ask someone like Daniel Kircheimer to see if they can polish a lustralloy cap and apply a brushed finish. I'm not sure that would be a cost effective solution but it may be worth an email or two.

Has Ralph Prather ever made the Titanium "51" in the aerometric style?

Not that I am aware of Paul, he has made a couple of very classy Aluminium ones though in Aero Style.

Ralph is more into the Vacs though, he also makes a really good brass replacement filler for a Vac, next one I get that needs a new filler is getting one of those

Jim

JIm, what is his website?

Tom,

Ralph Prather

Not a lot to see there though, if you want something specific, send him an email, mention my name, (and the boys will be round and burn your house down ), seriously though, Ralph is not good on the Web Site front, but he will send you some photos that will make you drool all over you keyboard and monitor. Which I think would be poetic justice. He is a friend of Ernesto and Mike who sells his pens for him.

If I can be of any more help just ask

Jim

I rather like the idea of getting an ordinary flighter and sticking the cap from my current "51" on it. The flighters without the gold band are definately not an option, as I'm not willing to spend that much and even if I were, this is going to be a user pen and it would be a shame make a workhorse out of a rare collector's item.

So the only problem is that the finish won't match. Actually, the cap on my current pen doesn't really have the lustraloy finish anymore. It's either been worn down or buffed off, because the frosted finish is only visible under the clip.

Sending the cap off to get a matching finish would probably involving sinking too much money into this insanity. But if I remove the clip on my lustraloy cap and buff off the remains of the finish, it might not look bad. It certainly won't be perfect, but it might be acceptable.

And even if I can't get it to look like I want, well, I'm left with a nice flighter and not much money lost. It's worth a shot. I'll post a pic if it turns out well.

While looking for a "51" flighter for sale, I came accross the Hero 100 Stainless. It has the look that I want and is supposed to be mechanically identical to the "51."

Does anyone have experience with this pen? Does it really perform as well as the "51"?

Since I'm looking for a user pen with a certain look and performance, the Hero may be my best option if it's as good as it looks on paper. It's certainly less expensive.

On the other hand, it's not a "51." Even if the Hero is perfect I'll probably still want to get a "51" flighter at some point...I just want to have one. And the no-gold flighter project would be kinda fun.

Is this how users turn into collectors?

I used to have a flighter with the wrong cap. It looked pretty ok to me. That was a long time ago.

photo attached.