I took a bunch of pictures at Pilot Pen Station at the beginning of the year. It is an extremely interesting place to visit. One of my favorite exhibits was a board full of all the different Capless and Vanishing Point models from 1963 up through the current production models. For several of the them there were cutaway sections to show the inner workings. Here's a picture of the current production VP...

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/Woody

That is a neat photo! You can appreciate that there is a lot of complexity in such "simple" things such as a fountain pen. Thanks, Woody, for posting this!

Erick

Great Stuff Woody...thanks for posting this.

Phil

Very cool. It kind of looks like a ball point with all those springs.

Awesome shot, Woody. Did you take some further close-ups of those cutaway pens? Please post more. I'd think they would make a valuable resource for anybody needing to service one of those pens. Plus, it's fascinating to see how they are designed... especially with the VP's, as the trap door internals are too recessed to see well.

That is very cool!! Pilot Pen Station was in my itinerary when I was in Tokyo last time, but I had to cut it out as we did not want to miss Shinkansen to Kyushu

Any chance you could email me a high resolution version of this image. Preferrably one straight out of the camera. I have been wanting to figure out how those come apart for a while now, and this would be the cats meow for that.

Cheers,
Sean

I just went to the Pen Station yesterday! It was fantastic! I've got lots of photos that I'll post soon. I love the Capless versions from 1973-1981 that they had on display, with the streamlined integrated clip...I've definitely got a new vintage grail pen now!

Nice photo Woody! Thanks for posting it...it is always great to see what's inside this amazing pen.

Nikolaos

Since you must be in Tokyo, have you been to Eurobox in the Ginza area? It's a ten minute walk from the Pilot Pen Station. I saw a few vintage VP's there last weekend.

Thanks for posting the image! Was that the only dissected Capless model on display?



I'm looking forward to your pictures!

I missed out on Eurobox but I hope I make it on the next trip.

There were 6 cutaway caplii... first model from '63, CL-200 from '64, sliding clip from '68, black stripe from '71, modern VP (posted) and modern Fermo. Any requests for the next one? There were also detailed mechanical drawings showing a section through some of the pens.

/Woody

Fermo please!!!!!

I didn't go to Eurobox, their webpage shows that they're closed (for vacation, I guess) for pretty much every day we're here. I might try this weekend, though. (Just browsing...Tokyo is expensive!)

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Fermo please!!!!!
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Sure, let's just go for all of them:

C-600MW, introduced November 1963
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C-200SW, introduced August 1964
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C-250SS, introduced May 1968
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C-400BS, introduced June 1971
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FCF-CMR, introduced September 2006
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/Woody

Thanks Woody. This really makes you appreciate that these pens represent exceptional value for money at around $100. They are not simple to make and they are exceptional writers as well.

Awesome to see these cutaways. I agree with Siv--you really come to appreciate the intricacy of the design. I hope one day to see these pens in person at the Tokyo Pilot Pen Station museum.