Delta NO-NUKE collection

February 20, 2009

The Delta Extrema from 1992 is one of my all-time favorite fountain pens and was my first approach to the world of fine writing instruments.I fell in love with this pen the first time I saw it in a spanish watch magazine back in 2000,but I was too young for buying such an expensive pen.

Latter, I regretted having been so formal, because when I finally decided to go for it, the Delta Extrema Collection wasn't available anymore at the recomended retail stores,this was in 2007.

Fortunately,I found an online shop called Pensinasia that gave me the last chance to own this pen in NOS condition.

In fact,I purchased the G7 limited edition set which is far more exclusive than the Extrema collection as this is only a numbered edition and the other is limited to 1994.These were given to the presidents Tsutomu Hata,Jean Chretien,John Major,Helmut Kolh,Bill Clinton,François Mitterrand,Boris Yeltsin,Silvio Berlusconi and Jacques Delors(EU president).

The Delta Extrema collection is formed by the 4 typical writing instruments(FP,RB,BP,Pencil), all of them of carbon fibre and titanium.

The Delta Extrema has the honour of having been the world's first fountain pen made out of carbon fiber and titanium and was intended to represent a "New Generation of Writing Instruments".

The limited edition G7 is a 3-piece set(Gold FP,Extrema FP, Extrema BP)and is based on the Extrema collection(FP,BP) but it has a distinctive feature,the screws are of solid gold whereas those of the extrema are of titanium.The solid gold FP is only available with this set,the solid gold body and cap is decorated with a beautiful guilloche motif.

MATERIALS

The main features of this line of writing instruments is "extreme lightness" but also "extreme resistance".Therefore we can easily understand why this was called "EXTREMA".

The body is made of "CARBON FIBER COMPOUND" and the strength points are in "TITANIUM".

-Carbon Fiber Compound(as described in the NO-NUKE Booklet)

It's a highly technological material,exclusively used with products of very peculiar features.Compound because it is composed by matrix and support.The matrix used is "Epoxi resin" and the support is "Carbon fiber".

Epoxi resin:It is an organic type of resin that is made of carbon.This resin has got a very high chemical inertia and is strongly resistent to breakage and abrasion.It is obtained in liquid form mixing different organic compounds;adding a catalyst(hardening agent) and warming, the resin hardening is obtained.

This chemical reaction is irreversible,therefore the resin is called termosetting(if reheated,it doesn't return to liquid form).

Carbon Fiber:It's specifically obtained by polyacrylonitrile fiber (Pan) adequately treated as follows:

*oxidised by air at about 400ºC

*carbonized into inert atmosphere at about 1000ºC

*grafitized into inert atmosphere at temperature of 1900ºC

In order to make the material highly resistent in the first two phases described above, the fibres are subjected to a strong traction.The last phase is needed to harden the fiber ,giving it an elastic resistance comparable to steel.

The final product is a very thin carbon filament(6 to 10 micron), and therefore very difficult to handle.As a consequence the fibers are joined in bundles of 1.000 to 160.000 filaments,that are subsequently weaved to pruduce tissues.

The manufacture of the body can be summarised as:

*the carbon fiber tissue,impregnated with the matrix, which is in its liquid stage is shaped and cooked,allowing the hardening of the matrix.

*the hardened fiber pipes are brought to measure and polished.

I thought this info could be interesting for the potential high tech pen lovers and as I said before Delta was the first to introduce the carbon fibre in the pen industry , so it seems to be a good idea to reproduce the information given by the manufacturer.There is also a few words for the other material(titanium),but as this wasn't an innovation in the pen industry I has omitted this part.

DESIGN

The Extrema is a small and slim pen and this could represent a problem for those with big hands.Pure italian design can be recognized at a glance, specially with the two screws that fix the curved titanium clip to the titanium head of the cap.The screws are of solid gold in the G7 edition and of titanium in the Extrema collection.The head of the cap is laser engraved with the number of the set(1 to 1994), and with the text: NO-NUKE,CARBON-TI.

Delta and G7 is also engraved in the cap ring.

The nib is a bicolor 18 kt solid gold and platinum and its classic appearence makes a strong difference with the high tech allure of the rest.

Weight(without ink converter or ink cartridge)

Body: 9 gr

Cap: 7 gr

Length:

Total:140 mm

without cap:119mm

Maximum diameter:12mm

NIB

I have the medium nib,and it's a good writer overall,no pressure is required to write smoothly,but if you want to print true Medium sized letters you have to push a little.The only fault is that it fails to make continuous lines when inclination is more of 45º and this is worse when you are going fast.The feeder is made of ebonite.

COST

RRP of the Extrema FP:around 240 euro in 2000(then around 250 US dollar)

I don't know the RRP of the G7 set but the last one on ebay(01/2009)was around 600 euro.

I paid in 2007 much more than 600 euro but my Gold fontain pen was 18KT(750) and the ebay's set was only a 333 gold FP.

RRP(2000 price range):around 240 euros

P.D.The Gold FP has a broad nib and I have only inked it one time ,It's a very good writer but as I don't like B nibs I cannot say more about this one.Of course it has an ebonite feeder and the nib is made of 18Kt Gold.It also have a space in the cap to engrave the owner's name.

February 22, 2009

Nice pens and pictures! Thank you for your informative review. I hadn't seen these pens before, and it's always nice to see something new. Carbon fiber is an attractive finish for many pens and always manages to catch my eye.

February 22, 2009

Thank you for the review -- great pens and pictures!

February 23, 2009

Nice pens and pictures! Thank you for your informative review. I hadn't seen these pens before, and it's always nice to see something new. Carbon fiber is an attractive finish for many pens and always manages to catch my eye.

Thank you for posting Sharkle!!!

There are other interesting pens in carbon fiber, take a look at the AD 2000 by Jorg Hysek for Dunhill, and the Mclaren Pens.