Sailor Junior Skeleton Demonstrator Nickle Chrome Platedmf Nib Fountain PEN

This is a cheap little pen that is interesting due to 4 things:1. Nice Sailor steel nib that writes similarly (but not as well, of course) to Sailor's gold nibs.2. You can leave it uncapped for long periods without any drying of ink flow. I have left it uncapped for up to 30 minutes with no hard starting. I haven't tried longer, but it stays wet unlike any other fountain pen I have, and I have many at a wide range of price points.3. EYEDROPPER CONVERSION is easy and makes the pen look beautiful, if you like to see colored ink sloshing around in a pen. There is no metal in the pen except the nib, so eyedropper conversion is safe. A few drops of glue at the bottom of the barrel are needed for this. I provide my eyedropper conversion instructions below...I'm sure there are many good ways to do it. My way is an attempt to avoid getting glue on the sides of the barrel.4. Sailor 1911 standard nib sections can be fit onto the barrel, if you want to make a Sailor demonstrator with gold nib at lower cost than a "true" Sailor demonstrator. Truth is, my 4 Sailor demonstrators with 18k and 14k gold nibs all have visible glue residue in the barrels from the factory, so this type of conversion may be a reasonable option for some. I have 4 of these Sailor Junior demonstrators, and none of them have glue residue from the factory. FYI, the nibs on the Sailor Junior demonstrators appear to be glued into the nib section, so you can't just pull it put and replace it with a different nib--an entire new section must be screwed in to make a replacement.The pen itself is very light. It writes well for such an inexpensive pen--much better than a Monteverde Monza, for example, in my opinion. If you don't mind spending some more money on what is a cheap pen and prefer a bit more weight, you can add a Sailor converter, though the ink capacity will be lower, of course than an eyedropper conversion.Summary: Cheap pen that writes nicely but is only interesting (in my opinion) if you want something that can stay uncapped for long periods AND you want a nice but cheap eyedropper OR if you want to put a Sailor 1911 gold nib section on it (in this case, either eyedropper or converter seems fine to me, as the weight from the converter may improve the writing experience in this "fancier" iteration). I put Baystate Blue into my eyedropper conversion, and I'm very happy with the combination.EYEDROPPER CONVERSION INSTRUCTIONS:I used Revell Contacta Glue (available here on Amazon), which has a nice long, skinny applicator, a coffee stirrer straw, and a larger (regular sized) drinking straw for this procedure to keep glue off the walls of the barrel. First, use a very small amount of transparent tape (I roll in back on to itself to turn it into a double-sided tape) to tape the coffee stirrer straw inside the regular-sized drinking straw and have it centered inside the drinking straw. Putting tape on two sides of the inside of the regular drinking straw does the trick nicely. Trim both straws so they fit the size of the barrel with 1/4" or so to spare, and have the coffee stirrer straw be a bit longer on both ends. Now lower the taped-together straws into the barrel and hover it just slightly above the bottom of the barrel. Squirt some glue into the coffee stirrer straw (squeeze the glue container for about 6-7 seconds). It takes some time, maybe 30 seconds, to get to the bottom. When you see a little bead of glue at the bottom of the coffee stirrer straw, lower the straws until the coffee stirrer touches the bottom, thus releasing glue onto the bottom of the barrel. Then carefully lift the two straws out of the barrel, being careful not to bump into the side of the barrel (bumping the side can put glue on the barrel--it's a little unsightly. On my first try without this dual-straw contraption, I put a little glue on the insides, but in truth, it can't even really be seen once ink is inside the pen, as long as the amount of glue is small--so don't worry about this too much). Stand the barrel up vertically for 24 hours or so to make sure the glue is very dry. After this fill it up with ink and you're good to go! You can use some silicon grease on the thread (I did). I tried using an O-ring, but it interfered a little with the cap, so I took it off.

Stellar little fountain pen. It can be eyedropper converted, the feed is clear, it's got a lovely 2B pencil feedback that is iconic of sailor nib tuning, The size, balance, build quality and fit and finish are all excellent. Clip isn't too tight, and the whole pen is just nice looking. I don't love the location of the cap band and how it creates a sharp step down on the body, but that's small beans.I wish the nib had more scrollwork on it, it wouldn't be expensive to stamp on a flourish pattern to the otherwise very plain nib.But this pen has a party piece - it's interchangable with the sections and caps of the 1911 standard. So you can totally convert your 1911 to a demonstrator! you can't swap nibs and feeds, so you'd have a black section, but you can mix them around and make a unique looking pen for fun, if black isn't your thing.It came with two cartridges and no converter, as usual. But this is definitely a pen you want to use with colored inks, as the clear feed is just awesome!

The same form as the bigger relatives in the 1911 family. Hence, it is the most most comfortable pen of the classic cigar/torpedo shape. The light weight of the pen adds tremendously to comfort factor during long writing sessions that students usually endure. People with larger hands may disagree with me, but this pen is not that much smaller than 1911, not in width. So when posted, it feels practically the same.The nib is very typical of Sailor with its famous positive but sweet feedback. I like it a lot. The closest competitor to this pen is the Pilot Metro/Cocoon. Each one has its own nib character and both are equally pleasant to write. This nib is rated as medium fine, but it writes thin and tight as an F. Yet, the equality ends there. The Metro is very unbalanced when posted because of the metal cap. The steep and step-down is down right irritating because that’s where I hold the pen. There are dis/advantage to both pens with the choice of materials. The Pilot probably can take serious drop and still functions OK, but this Sailor will crack. That said, the all plastic body lends itself beautifully as an eye dropper, especially with clear body. So take your pick.I did buy the Pilot Metro months ago. Had I been aware of its existence, I would have bought this and return the Pilot.That’s how much I like the Sailor 1911 family. And so do the Chinese, so much that Jin Hao knocks this off beautifully.Hahaha!

It writes a fine, dry line, but is consistent and predictable. The converter cost almost half much as the pen, so I recommend an eyedropper conversion on this one. The body is similar to the Four Seasons pens, albeit cheaper (e.g., there is no inner cap) but, rather than the Proctor 500 nib, it uses the cheaper steel nib as the Lecoule. Do not use a dry ink, such as Lamy, Pelican or an Iron Gall ink, as the pen would write too dryly; I am using an ultra wet ink, Noodler's Baystate Blue, and it really makes this pen shine. Good value for $17, if you like a fine point.

This is a decent little pen.Size and weight wise, it's similar to the Sailor 1911S. Ink flow is a little on the dry side. The nib is extremely fine, but not nearly as scratchy as I was expecting in this price range. The grind is much more conventional than other Sailors. The best part about this is the clear feed. It colors the feed very nicely, especially with lighter colored inks.It came in a clear plastic case with two black cartridges in it. No converter. But for $25, it's a great value.

Very smooth writing pen. Delighted with it. One small problem was the pocket clip was bent out ward so did not hold fast in the pocket, bentit back carefully and seems OK now. I can now graduate to a more expensive Sailor pen with much more confidence but not for a whileI like this pen.Stan

And I must say even the EF nib writes wet enough to show shimmer in the Diamine inks. Great pen!