Parker 45 Flighter - Barrel Ends

January 10, 2011

My question is "does a flighter variant exist with the small type button as seen on the TX?"

Recently I added a comment on a query relating to the P45TX and I realised that the barrel end of this pen was pretty unique for a 45 fountain pen. I assume that the epoxy finish was placed over a steel chassis which was the same as the flighter but I've noticed that the barrel end of the TX is modelled on the P45 fiber tip, and not the flighter.

"In development terms the P45 TX seems to sit between the two stainless steel P45 versions (pre-1980 with barrel end tip/button and post 1980 which is a one piece barrel). The TX follows neither barrel style but adopted a very small barrel end button borrowed from the P45 Fiber tip, and so was unique among P45 fountain pens. As far as I know the small barrel button was only avaialble elsewhere on South Americam made P45s."

The early flighters had a large plastic tip to the barrel, and later versions of this style had chrome or gold tips. The flighters after 1980 have a one-pice barrel. Was there ever an interim version? I doubt it but I thought it would have been very strange for Parker to have produced the TX on a completly unique tooling. What makes it even stranger is that the small button appeared only on the plastic bodied fiber tips - the metal flighter versions had a one-piece barrel, as far as I know.........Can anyone shed any light on this?

Edited January 10, 2011 by ray501

January 14, 2011

My question is "does a flighter variant exist with the small type button as seen on the TX?"

Hi Ray

Quick answer, Yes. However, ...

This pic shows four P45\61 fibre tips.

1) The 45 TX

2) The 61 cirrus (cloud) pattern.

3) Flighter with button.

4) Flighter without button.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass1.JPG

Second picture shows 2 new slimfolds with buttons and one without.

Also note the somewhat uncommon P45 red circlet harlequin, this pen is not dated unfortunately (probably made pre 1980)

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass2.JPG

Close up of tassy.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass3.JPG

And of course the good old P45 TX

The touche style pen could be a cut and shut job (this is how it came to me) but the fibre tip was most certainly a production item.

As for the existence of a pencil. I have never seen a TX twist activated type but some people may have put a refillable lead cartridge in

the cap activated ball pen.

I have 7 TX`s at the moment and the date codes are.

2 X QL

2 X QI

1 X UE

2 X UL

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/txspread.JPG

Its also worth mentioning that this style of tassy was fitted to some P 35`s as well.

Most were fibre tips. However, the flighter and black laque in this pic are fountain pens.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass4.JPG

Hope this is some help to you

Regards

Paul.

October 26, 2011

Hy paul,

i´m new on this site but i´ve got a question i think you can answer.

I´ve been to Lissabon and i bought an old parker pen. I´s the same pen

you´ve shown on youer picture. I think you call it Flighter without button!? (rightmost)

So the fact is that parker doesn´t produce any refills. So they offer me another

pen in exchange for my pen.

So the question is _ can you tell me what´s the value of this old pen.

I hope i can get some pictures in here so you can see the pen.

Merci for helping me out if possible.

Regards Dominic

October 27, 2011

My question is "does a flighter variant exist with the small type button as seen on the TX?"

Hi Ray

Quick answer, Yes. However, ...

This pic shows four P45\61 fibre tips.

1) The 45 TX
2) The 61 cirrus (cloud) pattern.
3) Flighter with button.
4) Flighter without button.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass1.JPG

Second picture shows 2 new slimfolds with buttons and one without.
Also note the somewhat uncommon P45 red circlet harlequin, this pen is not dated unfortunately (probably made pre 1980)

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass2.JPG

Close up of tassy.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass3.JPG

And of course the good old P45 TX
The touche style pen could be a cut and shut job (this is how it came to me) but the fibre tip was most certainly a production item.
As for the existence of a pencil. I have never seen a TX twist activated type but some people may have put a refillable lead cartridge in
the cap activated ball pen.

I have 7 TX`s at the moment and the date codes are.

2 X QL
2 X QI
1 X UE
2 X UL

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/txspread.JPG

Its also worth mentioning that this style of tassy was fitted to some P 35`s as well.
Most were fibre tips. However, the flighter and black laque in this pic are fountain pens.

http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.barrell/pics/tass4.JPG

Hope this is some help to you

Regards
Paul.

Hi Paul

Thanks for the reply. The slimfold (again an english product) is not strictly a 45, it's a sort of cut down pen with a 45 nib but with a new section and barrel. As a smaller size I think it was primarily a school pen - I have examples of all four colors and many of them came with an italic nib (perhaps destined for calligraphy in schools?). The tassie on the slimfold I think only applied to the GT types (fairly rare) not the CTs. Begs the question as why produce the slimfold in the first place as the 45 wasn't expensive, perhaps the smaller size suited kids.

Your Harlequin is very interesting. All of the harlequins that I have are dated Q or U - I suspect that the TX is the same two or three years in production. Yours being undated may be pre-1980 (before english date stamping) but may also be a prototype as red versions are scarce.

The fibre tips in your pics are all basically the similar chassis, so in production terms it may make sense to adopt the shorter style for the 45.

So its back to the question of why did Parker put a tassie on a unique 45 TX? Hmmm....the harlequins and flighters of 1980/81 all had metal barrels without tassies.

I quite like the TX. I noted that the falcon was listed as a TX finish, so possibly the expoxy finish was intended as a TX label around 1980. But of course the TX and the falcon were both dropped fairly quickly.

I have quite a few later models finished in black epoxy, 95, arrow, 88, vector and so on, so the black epoxy looks to have been a standard option in the 90s. But I have never seen a usa or uk 45 with a black epoxy finish, although I have been told that they do exist.

I will have to keep my eyes open across the 'bay...................

Edited October 28, 2011 by ray501