Pelikan 100 N Green Paint Impression Colour And Pen Restoration

[Stylomeister]

I just purchased my first Pelikan and from what I can tell its a green marble 100 N from around the 1940s with a chrome nickel nib which I have now completely dismantled.

 

I didn't pay too much for it so I'm not too upset about a small crack in the piston knob which I'll try some J-B Weld on either to try and close it up or to fill as the mechanism is quite stable (with new seal) despite the crack. The black plastic material appears to be made of resin and not some sort of celluloid or BHR as MEK made no impression and the texture feels like plastic of some sort.

 

Anyway I was trying to figure out the colour for the impression - the small Humbrol tinlets are often handy for this sort of work but I can't find a colour match and may have to resort to mixing something if I can't find it but my only reference is what I can see on my computer monitor.

 

Any hints would be appreciated for example a specific oil colour I can buy a tube of etc.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Indy_Pen_Dance]

What color is the furniture on your pen? The pens that had silver trim had white cap imprints - hope that helps.

[Rick Propas]

Try artists acrylics

[Stylomeister]

It's a gold trim pen so I suspect it's that elusive 'Pelikan Green' I'm after otherwise I'm just going to mix as close as I can get based on some NOS pen photos I've seen.

[christof]

It's a gold trim pen so I suspect it's that elusive 'Pelikan Green' I'm after otherwise I'm just going to mix as close as I can get based on some NOS pen photos I've seen.

 

I seriously doubt that Pelikan did use exactly the same nuance of green during the decades to highlight the imprints...

 

btw and just in case you are interested in my opinion, but in most cases, I do keep the imprints with missing paint as they are. I am not convinced that Pelikan did highlight every imprint on every pen originally. I have near mint examples with absolutely no leftover paint in the imprints and I think this is the way how they left the manufacture.

 

Christof

[soapytwist]

I always use a green crayon rather than paints - less likely to react to the plastic and easily reversible.

[Stylomeister]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm a little on the fence with these things too.

 

I have a 'brace' of MB corals I retouched the barrel on and these look good but I don't think I'd want to do the same to my 136 Meisterstuck imprint for example.

 

Tom Westerich's restorations look very nice I have to say and have tempted me to do the same. I course I don't know if he has retouched his pens or not, some look like they have never been taken out of the box though and come with that 'elusive' Pelikan green.

[Stylomeister]

I just got an early yellow inkwindow green marble Pelikan 100 in the post today with... 'Pelikan Green' paint in the impressions. Hopefully I can match this on the weekend at my local art shop :-)

 

It's 'bang on' with the mid-tones of the green marble striations - it seem quite obvious now.

[Stylomeister]

Reporting back for anyone who may venture on the same quest.

 

Placing some very small paint sample dots against the original impressions on my Pelikan 101 from around late 1931, I get a very close match with a tinlet of Humbrol 101 matt Mid Green. With oils I had to mix Terre Vert with a little white and a little Permanent Light Green to get about as close as the Humbrol - so there you go. The linseed oil based paint will be gentler on BHR vs. the paint tinlet and I guess on the later models that don't use BHR it won't be the same problem.

 

I've not been able to compare colour samples with other original impressions and the pigments Pelikan used may have faded over time but it looks like a remarkably good match. I've seen other pens photographed that vary somewhat but this may be due to several other factors such as light balance, restoration and possibly 'Pelikan Green' v2.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Stylomeister