Berea El Grande platinum FP sale over :-(

[jskeen]

Just to save somebody else the half hour of frustration I just went through, if you are trying to order these kits at the clearance price of $5.50, don't bother, they are out of stock. After fiddling with the website for what seemed like forever I finally called and had the very nice lady that answered go back and check stock. Even though the computer said none left, there were 5 kits in the bin. And they are mine

So.... game over on the sale. Hope you got some before I did

 

[jskeen]

Actually, I got these in today, and I gotta say, I understand why they were on clearance. Now I've not turned any of these kits before, so I don't know for sure if this is normal or not, but the centerband assembly is just plastic with a metal decorative band. The coupler between the nib assy and the body tube of the pen is metal, but the FP section is of the 3 piece plastic type, as opposed to the 4 piece type where the keyed part that holds the nib and feed can be removed from the outer grip and a replacement turned from the body material. I intended from the first to discard the black plastic butt cap and coupler, and make closed end pens, but I am disappointed in the quality of the fp section and centerband on this kit.

Those of you out there that make this style and it's siblings, are there 4 piece FP sections and or metal centerband assemblies on some of these kits, and are they available anywhere separately?

Oh well, I guess Heinlein was right, TANSTAAFL

Thanks
James

 

[Lonn]

James , i bought and finished 10 kits ( coconut version) and received the same described parts as you posted. The only problem is that the pen top does not post onto the plastic finial. After calling tech support and receiving 6 new finials , i still had two pens that i had to turn over sized antler finials in order to get a positive posting fit. Tech support also told me this large pen was never intended to post. i love closeouts because i use their affordable quality parts to mix and match to create non recognizable pens. Some things i did to the Filigree kits are definately out of the box.