Pen Review: Platinum Preppy 02

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Larry Marshall

I’ve always been a fan of the Platinum Preppy. There is no better bang for the buck ratio in the fountain pen world in my opinion. For a street price of $3-4 you get a fully-functional, cartridge-fed fountain pen that can even be upgraded with a converter if you so desire. It comes in half a dozen colors and each comes with a matching Platinum ink cartridge.

One of the ironies of life is that this inexpensive pen is one of the most reliable pens I own, and I own a lot of pens. Until now, they’ve come in 05 and 03 nib sizes and I’ve always favored the later because I tend to work small and thus love fine-nib pens.

So, when Platinum released an 02 version of this pen I had to try one. It arrived as part of an order from Jet Pens with one little glitch. Platinum’s cartridges are nice as they use a small metal ball to seal the end. When you insert the cartridge, the ball is shoved into the cartridge and acts as an agitator for the ink, one of the things that makes these pens so reliable.

But guess what happens if you put water-based inks in a -30C environment which was my mailbox. Yep…the ink freezes, expands, and the little ball is shoved out the end. Fortunately, it was washable ink and so an easy clean up. So, my tests with this pen were done with J. Herbin Perle Noire ink rather than with the Platinum blue that comes with it.

The appropriate review word for this pen is WOW. If you like fine pens you will like this new Preppy 02. If you don’t, you won’t. It is just a bit finer than a Micron 01. Like other Preppy pens it is smooth for such a fine nib and I spent half an hour just making hatch marks and little doodles with it.

This pen has a fancier paint job than do the 03 and 05 versions. I’m not sure if this is a remake of the Preppy line and/or if we’ll see this scheme on the rest of the Preppies soon. It is the case that the 02 is more expensive than the 03 and 05, at least right now. Jet Pens currently sells it for a whopping $4.45, or the cost of a decent sized latte at Starbucks (grin).

Hero 9296 Fountain Pen: A Review

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Larry Marshall

A couple days ago I promised a review of the Hero 9296, a fountain pen I’ve purchased recently. I bought it for two reasons. First, my buddy Yvan started using one to do his quick sketches and while Yvan’s favorite pen is always the one he just acquired, he’s stuck with this one for a while. The second reason is more important for anyone reading this – it’s CHEAP! I bought it via eBay for $7.00, including the shipping.

Hero 9296 next to the ubiquitous Lamy Safari

I’d like to say that this pen has bumped my Pilot Preras and TWSBI Minis into the closet but that’s not the case. I present it here for two reasons. Did I mention that it’s CHEAP? For the price of a couple lattes you can have a fine-writing (pun-intended) fountain pen. The second reason is that this pen is a very thin, but normal length fountain pen, favored by those with smaller hands. It has a metal body and silver trim. If you like thin pens, this one is worth a look.

Hero 9296 compared to Micron 03 and Sharpie Fine Pen

I bought what Hero calls an “extra-fine” nib and I was surprised to find that though it’s an Asian company, the nib is more like a typical Asian “fine” nib. This is not a knock against it, but the Pilot Penmanship XF produces a finer line. This pen, at least with Noodler’s Lexington Gray is very similar to a Micron 03 in line width. It writes wetter than my Pilot Preras and so Lex Gray looks darker from this pen than from my Preras. I think most would find it quite respectable and usable for most sketching. My Pilot Preras produce a bit finer line than this pen but I think most of that is due to the wetter line from the the Hero 9296.

There are a couple things I don’t like about this pen but they may not bother others. First is the nib/grip. It is very shiny and, if you’re an outside sketcher like I am, this can be a problem on a sunny day. The fact that the pen is hooded combines with the shine to create a pen where it’s hard to tell if/when the nib is oriented properly. Anyone who has used a fountain pen knows that rotating the nib of the pen can greatly affect how or even if it will write. Maybe you get used to it.

The pen comes with a converter, which is normally a plus. In this case the converter is different from more typical Hero converters in that it is 1) thinner, providing less capacity and 2) rather than a threaded plunger, it has a slide plunger that I find clumsy to operate. I’m not sure why but the result is that you can’t get the converter more than 1/2 – 3/4 full, further reducing how much ink the pen holds.

These drawbacks aside, this is a good pen for not much money. I’m going to fill mine with a washable ink (my pens are typically filled with waterproof inks) to give me another tool in the arsenal.

Sketching The Riviere Lairet… Sort Of

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Once upon a time there was the Riviere Lairet. It meandered through what became Limoilu as Quebec City spread north from its origins atop Cap Diamond. Ultimate, Limoilu was swallowed by Quebec City during a large merger but everyone still calls it Limoilu. We’re a stubborn lot.

From the photos I’ve seen one of the basic problems with the Riviere Lairet was that lots of water ran in it in the spring and almost none in the summer. The result was a fairly deep canyon running through what was quickly becoming a very populated area.

Maybe more important, the canyon had a lot of very fast-flowing, dangerous water at one time of year and at other times it became a dumping ground for the less civic-minded members of Limoilu. So it was decided, in the mid-20th Century, to build a huge pipe to convey the spring waters underground from north of Limoilu all the way to the St. Charles River – my river.

These days, the Riviere Lairet name can be found on maps as a long, open pond area in Cartier-Brebeuf Park, with the south end of the pond emptying into the St. Charles River.

But the water that fills this park area still has to get there through the pipe I mentioned. They do everything in their power to hide the pipe’s opening into the park but I thought it would make for a fun sketch. The weather further convinced me as while it was almost warm, it was also windy. After climbing down the hill to this view, I was conveniently out of the wind with only a few ants to bother me.

I used a Uniball Signo UM-151 (.38mm) gel pen for this one. The fine pens in the 101 series are mostly waterproof but anything thicker than .38mm and the gel ink starts to wash into the watercolors, at least on the Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6) paper that I use. Hope you like it.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9x6), Uniball Signo 101 (.38mm)

Stillman & Birn Alpha (9×6), Uniball Signo 101 (.38mm)

Pilot HiTec V5 (05) Cartridge Pen

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Larry Marshall

This pen, the Pilot HiTec V5 cartridge pen, showed up at our local pen store recently. I’m a fountain pen guy and wouldn’t have even noticed it if not for the display right next to it that held Pilot fountain pen cartridges. For those who like nylon/felt-tip pens for sketching, but who also would like access to the range of colors available to fountain pen folk, may want to give this pen a try.

It’s available with either a .5 mm or .7 mm tip. I bought the .5 mm and its line does compare to a Sakura Micron 05. The ink density and color is similar too but with one very large difference. Pilot inks are not waterproof. This can be good or bad depending on what you’re going to do with the pen.

It made no difference to me as I bought it with the thought of seeing if I could use it with other inks, specifically, Noodler’s Lexington Gray which is my main sketching ink. I emptied the cartridge and used an ear syringe to pressure a bunch of water through the feed/point to clean out the ink contained within. This is a slightly bigger job than it would be with a fountain pen as the feed on these pens seems to hold a lot more ink. Nevertheless, it only took a minute of two.

I filled the cartridge with Lexington Gray and once attached to the pen I squeezed the heck out of the cartridge to pump ink into the feed/point. This would be easier if one were to use a Con-50 converter, which has a plunger that would pressure ink into the pen. Nevertheless, in another minute or so I had Lex Gray coming out of the pen. Refilling, of course, is quick as I just pull the cartridge and use a pen syringe to refill it.

My concern was that the pen would dry/plug up so I waited to write this until I’d had the Lex Gray in the pen for a week or so. While walking through a local park, I made this little sketch of one of my favorite subjects, a park trashcan. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6),I was impressed by how the pen performed.

I paid $3 for mine so this pen isn’t a bank breaker and it does open up interesting possibilities for those who prefer felt-tip pens

TWSBI Mini: The Ideal Urban Sketching Pen?

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Larry Marshall

I’m a fountain pen geek. Not in the sense that I spend hundreds of dollars to fill out my collection of exotic pens or anything like that. But pretty much everything I write or draw on paper is done with fountain pens. Besides the fact that we’re burying our planet in disposable pens, fountain pens are economical, practical, and fun

When I started sketching I began using a Lamy Safari. They’re reliable and Lamy’s extra-fine nib is reasonably fine. The Platinum Preppy is a surprisingly good sketching pen, though their caps are fragile so I stopped relying upon them for my street sketching.

I discovered Pilot pens, first the 78G, a cheap pen that isn’t imported into North America. Then I bought a Pilot Prera and shortly thereafter I bought another one. I love Pilot Preras. Because it’s an Asian company, Pilot’s fine nib pens are much finer than are European extra-fine nib pens and the Prera is very well made.

It’s also the ‘right’ length and weight when posted. Some pens, the Lamy is a good example, become quite tail-heavy when posted. Of course, you don’t have to post a pen but when I’m on the street the problem of where to put the cap so it doesn’t get lost becomes a problem. So I like to post the pen when it’s in use. There’s one big downside of the Prera. Pilot’s piston converters have a very small capacity.

Top: Lamy Safari, Middle: TWSBI Mini, Bottom: Pilot Prera

Enter my newest pen acquisition, the TWSBI Mini. Wow…what a pen. I’m not going to do a regular pen review. For that I encourage you to watch Brian Goulet’s great video review and comparison to its big brother, the TWSBI 540. Instead, I want to talk about why I think the TWSBI Mini will become my favorite street sketching tool.

Top: Lamy Safari, Middle: TWSBI Mini, Bottom: Pilot Prera

Let’s Talk Prices

As I know many people use Lamy pens, or have had them recommended to them, maybe by me, I think I should say something about price. The Lamy is cheaper than either the Prera or TWSBI. All I’ll say is that the differences aren’t that great when you look at a pen as something you’re going to use every time you go sketching. If you look at street prices (I’ll use Goulet Pen’s pricing as my example) you’ll find these numbers:

Lamy Safari with converter: $34.55

Pilot Prera demonstrator: $56.00

TWSBI Mini demonstrator: $55.00

So, for the price of a very few lattes, you can buy some of the features I’m going to talk about here and I’ll say no more about price.

Pilot Prera vs TWSBI Mini

I’ll begin by telling you that it’s not because it’s so much better at making lines. Both the Pilot Prera F and TWSBI Mini EF produce very fine, consistent lines. The TWSBI isn’t quite as fine as the Prera and writes wetter, thus producing a bit darker line, at least with the Noodler’s Lexington Gray that I use. The TWSBI is, likewise, a bit finer than a Lamy EF pen. Both are smooth sketching pens, though my Prera is smoother. This, however, may be because I’ve been using the Prera for along time and nibs do improve with time.

I quickly did these two small comparison sketches – the Prera F (top) and TWSBI Mini EF (bottom). These sketches are about two inches wide. The dividing line between them was done with a Lamy Safari EF for comparison. Both were done on Stillman & Birn Epsilon paper. I think they reflect the line differences/similarities of the two pens.

What makes a good street pen?

There are pen features beyond what line it draws that are important to me as a street sketcher. They are:

1) The pen must be absolutely reliable.

2) It must have a post-able cap.

3) It must not be tail-heavy when posted.

4) It must have a decent ink capacity.

5) The cap must seal well so the ink doesn’t evaporate.

6) I’ve got to be able to see how much ink is in it.

7) I simply have to ‘like’ it, whatever that means.

Let’s look at each of these things, by comparing the TWSBI Mini to the Pilot Prera.

Reliability (1)

My sketching pen has to write the first time, every time. I don’t want to have to dip it in water to get it started, or draw a gazillion little circles, shake it, or anything else to get it to work. I want to take the cap off and write. My paper/ink/pen triad is Stillman & Birn paper, Noodler’s Lexington Gray, and Pilot Prera. This combination meets that criterion.

So do my Lamy pens and the TWSBI. I have many more pens that don’t meet this criterion and it’s by far the most important to me. I hear people talk about how they ‘start’ their pens. When I have a pen that needs ‘starting’, I get a different pen. Putting the pen to paper should be sufficient. Life’s too short.

Postable and not-tail heavy (2 & 3)

This is a bigger deal than it sounds if you’re a street sketcher. If you can’t post a pen and you’re in a studio, you put the cap on the work table. When you’re sitting on a stool in the middle of a sidewalk, what do you do with it? I need a pen that posts well.

Both the Prera and Mini are short pens. They are designed to be posted and be in balance when posted. What puts the TWSBI Mini head and shoulders above the Prera in this regard is that the TWSBI posts by screwing it onto the back of the pen. There’s no chance of it falling off. It may be a small thing. Some may not even like it. But I’m downright giddy as a schoolgirl over this TWSBI feature.

Ink Capacity (4)

This is the Prera’s achilles heel and a fantastic feature of the TWSBI pens. Pilot’s piston converter holds somewhere around half a milliliter of ink. The TWSBI holds more than twice that much. I find myself filling my Preras all the time and have even taken to carrying extra ink with me. I’m going to enjoy not having to fuss over the TWSBI as often because of its larger ink capacity.

Cap Seals Well (5)

This is a big deal for me. If the cap doesn’t seal well, you get evaporation. If you get evaporation you not only lose ink volume, you increase ink concentration, affecting consistency of the pen. I have no hard data to prove it but I think there is some evaporation from my Preras. It’s also the case that a cap that doesn’t seal opens up the possibility of ink drying in the feed/nib and having the ‘start’ the pen as discussed above.

The TWSBI pens are truly amazing pieces of engineering. While the Prera cap seal depends upon a friction fit between plastic and metal pieces coming together, and is better than most fountain pens, TWSBI truly addresses the problem with a first-class solution. They provide two rubber seals and as you screw the cap on (a better seal by itself), these seals produce a two independent seal barriers between the nib/feed and the outside world. This feature alone is enough to give high marks to the TWSBI in my view.

Seeing Ink Supply

When it comes to buying pens I’m like a fish watching lures go by. I’m attracted to the bright colors. Just like the fish, I’ve learned that’s a mistake. The best pens for sketching are clear. You can see how much ink you’ve got. This is particularly true of a piston-fill pen. Though it’s a bit of a nuisance, I can unscrew my Lamy and look at the reservoir (that dumb little window is a completely failed experiment in my view). While you can take the TWSBI apart completely (a great feature by the way), you don’t do that when it’s half-full of ink and you don’t do it while you’re sitting in a park somewhere. I’ve come to love clear-body, or ‘demonstrator’ fountain pens. I do find the bright red button on the end of the TWSBI cap to be attractive, though (grin).

Gotta Like It

What’s the point of sketching if you can’t like the tools you’re using. If you like your tools, you’ll use them more often and probably get a better result. Both the Pilot Prera and TWSBI Mini are superb-writing pens that feel good in the hand. I also like the looks of them.

A small building sketched on Stillman & Birn Zeta paper (5×8), using the TWSBI Mini and Noodler’s Lexington Gray.

In the end, we all have to chose our own tools. There is no one-size fits all. I hope that by highlighting the TWSBI Mini, and why I feel it is a superb street sketching tool for me that you’ll gain some insight into your own choices while being introduced to this great sketching pen.