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Masterpiece 144 Becoming Transparent


chunya

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Hello all

 

When I finally got round to cleaning my celluloid Masterpiece 144 I noticed that the barrel was becoming almost transparent. The clear and plain (un-striped) ink window is obvious, but then half the length of the barrel is quite clearly becoming translucent, quite clearly red when held up against a strong light. I am sorry that the photos don't help at all, but this morning the natural light is poor and my powerful torch has gone walkabouts.

 

Does anyone know what might be causing this? Is it the dye that is fading (from the inside / outside), or is this something more serious ie celluloid degrading?

 

I had thought that this was an early version of the 144, but I saw one for sale a while back where the seller commented on the striped window being indicative of that pen being the first type (same nib and feed).

 

Many thanks

 

 

fpn_1528454872__dsc08909.jpg

 

fpn_1528454925__dsc08910.jpg

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Agree your photos dont help - it looks fine to me

 

Pretty sure that this has been discussed before on here. Dont quote me, but i thought someone said that these celluloid pens have some sort of outer black coating, which can fade?

 

Need the real experts to chime in here though, or run a google search

 

Its quite common ( there is a 144 pen being sold on ebay at the moment, shown below, which is almost transarent, being sold as a demonstrator ( which it certainly isnt )

 

 

 

I have one with some colour loss - will post a picture of this later

 

Cheers paul

post-25072-0-30373800-1528456698.png

Edited by sherbie
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Common issue with the celluloid Meisterstucks. As sherbie points out, been discussed before, but I can't find the threads. iirc: I THINK the black is an exterior coating (apart from the window stripes, which are inside). (Or is it the other way round?)

 

Anyway, I believe the only way to get the colour back is to have it recoated - which can be done, if you choose to. I believe one of our German experts can do this process? (Again, not sure!)

 

Apologies for such a vague response, but just to put your mind at rest, it's a common issue with these pens and it's not any form of celluloid decay. My 144 has lost some colour near the turning knob - and the ink window (stained) is the darkest part of the barrel, now! Fortunately, it's purely cosmetic and doesn't affect performance.

Hope someone comes along soon with a clearer answer.

Great pen, btw.

 

Enjoy.

Edited by CS388
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Thanks both for the reassuring responses.

Paul, thanks for that photo, I tracked it down and the seller covers themselves by saying 'demonstrator "like" ', but it certainly has faded very uniformly, impressively so.

CS388, interesting that there are members here who can recoat the celluloid, but I think I'll leave it as it is.

It is a nice writer and funnily enough I've hardly used it, but I think that I shall start using it more as it does feel nice in my hand.

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Agree your photos dont help - it looks fine to me

 

Pretty sure that this has been discussed before on here. Dont quote me, but i thought someone said that these celluloid pens have some sort of outer black coating, which can fade?

 

Need the real experts to chime in here though, or run a google search

 

Its quite common ( there is a 144 pen being sold on ebay at the moment, shown below, which is almost transarent, being sold as a demonstrator ( which it certainly isnt )

 

 

 

I have one with some colour loss - will post a picture of this later

 

Cheers paul

 

 

What has just struck me about this pen is the 'uniformity' of the ink window and barrel, it almost has the look of a long ink window, but then why would only the top part be striped? With mine (oh I shall have to try to take a good photo), the plain ink window is 'orangey' (sp?) whereas the barrel is turning very much red.

Edited by chunya
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Well, again we need the experts to chime in here, but if the coating was applied to the inside of the barrel, and with the constant back and fro motion of the piston over 70 years, has the piston simply removed the coating?

 

As you say, the ink window looks like a long one, and that seems largely untouched

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The coating is on the outside of the barrel, I believe. I am no expert and willing to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable.

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Hi all,

The black celluloid coating is effectively applied on the outside of the barrel.

One can re-coat the barrel behind the ink window with black celluloid.

This is however a time consuming and delicate operation since one has to apply at least 4 layers with an intermediate drying time of 24 hours between each layer.

Afterwards the new coating has to be sanded with increasingly finer paper and polished.

I've one this already several times.

Francis

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Hi all,

The black celluloid coating is effectively applied on the outside of the barrel.

One can re-coat the barrel behind the ink window with black celluloid.

This is however a time consuming and delicate operation since one has to apply at least 4 layers with an intermediate drying time of 24 hours between each layer.

Afterwards the new coating has to be sanded with increasingly finer paper and polished.

I've one this already several times.

Francis

Thanks, Francis. That is what I thought. I appreciate you confirming this. Edited by meiers
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Thank you Francis. So if it is applied to the outside, albeit painstakingly, then I suppose that it can equally be ipainstakingly removed when it starts to disappear? I wonder if that is what's been done to the Ebay pen as it just looks so 'perfect'?

 

The light is better this morning so managed to take a better photo (a thorough flush also helped), although not as good as the Ebay one. With mine you can clearly see the difference in colour between the plain ink window (almost orange) and 'transparent' barrel (reddish).

 

fpn_1528534909__dsc08911_-_copy.jpg

 

fpn_1528534995__dsc08912_-_copy.jpg

Edited by chunya
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Some models were coated from the inside, others from the outside (and inside).

 

Striped ink windows have been done from the inside, always.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Some models were coated from the inside, others from the outside (and inside).

 

Striped ink windows have been done from the inside, always.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

I'm surprised reading this Michael , I've never encountered a "behind the ink window" barrel coating at the inside of the barrel. I fully agree on the striped ink window lines , these were always appleid at the inside.

Francis

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From my experience especially older 13x models with a long ink window appear to be coated from the inside.

 

Later ones as well as 14x models are coated from the outside.

 

Give aways are a very small „seam“ just below the ink window if coated from the outside and polish turning black on pens coated from the outside.

 

I have a few pens with no seam at all and polishing or sanding does not remove any of the black color at all on those coated from the inside.

 

Not sure if I can show this on a picture but I can show you on the next pen show ;-)

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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PS: I think Chunya‘s pen is a good example of showing the solid black coating from the outside and the slightly transparent coating from the inside below the striped area.

 

On some pens they don‘t match exactly as they didn‘t coat the same lenght area. I have a few lens like this as well.

 

Michael

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PSPS: all celluloid 14x models came with striped ink window but the stripes will wear over time.

 

Only 1960s, 1970s and 1980s resin models were produced with blue or grey ink windows without stripes.

 

A long ink window and a few other features are an indication for early 1940s celluloid 14x pens.

 

Michael

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PSPS: all celluloid 14x models came with striped ink window but the stripes will wear over time.

 

Only 1960s, 1970s and 1980s resin models were produced with blue or grey ink windows without stripes.

 

A long ink window and a few other features are an indication for early 1940s celluloid 14x pens.

 

Michael

 

That's interesting to know, Michael. So the window stripes have just worn away over the decades. Mind you, I'm not surprised, I imagine that it has seen some use over the years. I think that will also explain where a seller commented on the striped window on their pen being indicative of that pen being the first type ..... half-remembered facts :)

What I do love the most about this pen is the nib, it has a surprising amount of flex ... so I think I now have a stable of 3 daily users.

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