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As someone who has dabbled with modifying watches with after-sale parts--what people often call "modding"--I thought of doing the same to some of my fountain pens that may benefit from a mod or two. I'm unlikely to sell any of my pens for a profit anyway and have a preference for personal touches. The one I picked was a pastel green Esterbrook purse pen. As many have said, the plastic on these are very fragile, and the cap lip on this one was very problematic for me. About 4-5 cracks had appeared and every time I used the pen I was afraid a piece would fall off. Solvent welding did its job, to a point but the cracks would reappear. There was also an unsightly chip that I feared would enlarge into a larger crack. I had used black epoxy paint to fill in cracks for some other pens and so an idea came to me to paint the cap lip with it. I was able to even fill in the gap where the chip had been, after a few layers had dried. It doesn't totally seem out of place, don't you think? It's not a crazy change at all, more like a stabilizing repair, but i'll count it as a mod because it's not part of the original design. Has anyone else done other Esterbrook mods of sorts? I remember seeing a few pens here that have been put together using parts other than Esterbrooks' and they seem really cool. I'm sure it drives the purists nuts but I don't find the term Frankenpen derogatory at all. They are often wonderful unique creations.