Pelikan M120 Iconic Blue - My First Pelikan

[putteringpenman]

My first Pelikan: an M120 Iconic Blue. (This is the 2018 limited edition, not the vintage pen.)

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by putteringpenman

[sargetalon]

Thats a great pen for a first Pelikan. Congrats and enjoy!

[langere]

It's a beaut. Mine also writes very well. Good acquisition!

 

Erick

[siddr90]

Enjoy the pen!

 

What nib is it? Do share a writing sample.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The original 120 had a nice springy regular flex nib........I think the new one has the springy regular flex 200's nib, with it's own stamp...so should be a well balanced pen...posted with a nice comfortable ride. And if a 200's nib, 1/2 a width narrower than modern 400/600 nibs.

 

I do like the Pelikan regular flex nib....once there were many companies that mad a regular flex nib..........Pelikan may well be the last.

Don't know about Japanese makers.

 

Wax your pen if you fear mars from posting....= no mars. Posting gives standard sized pens their good balance.

 

My 120 is in the 'to clean' cup...... So was quick to hand to check the size.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[inkstainedruth]

I picked one up in September at the Commonwealth Pen Show. Didn't have a choice on the nib, but the M nib on it is very smooth. I've been running MB Beatles Psychedelic Purple LE through it ever since.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[1nkulus]

Nice, simple, understated pen.

Congrats and enjoy the reams of happiness.

[Calabria]

One of my favorite

[putteringpenman]

Enjoy the pen!

 

What nib is it? Do share a writing sample.

 

I got a B nib. I'm planning to post a review soon! I will say that it has more flex than I expected and has a smooth nib. There are a few problems with skipping that I'm trying to fix.

[sansenri]

Lovely pen, it's a very good choice to start on Pelikans, I started on a 120 (the vintage green black) many years ago!

[inkstainedruth]

 

I got a B nib. I'm planning to post a review soon! I will say that it has more flex than I expected and has a smooth nib. There are a few problems with skipping that I'm trying to fix.

 

My first M200 Café Crème (sadly lost at a hotel in Bowling Green a couple of years ago) had that problem -- the B nib skipped no matter what ink I had put in it. A visit to a nibmeister at a pen show (in that instance Deb Kinney) fixed it right up (I think the issue was baby's bottom).

I wish that finding the pen, and the case, and the other pen in the case turning up was that easy....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

If one is coming from nail/semi-nail....a springy regular flex does have "flex".

 

Some folks have mistaken regular flex for semi-flex, in the tines spread and bend ....when one is a tad heavy handed....which is normal with nails.

 

I grew to like the 200's and the semi-vintage '82-97 nibs....be they gold or steel/gold plated they are =. The whole era was springy regular flex nibs. The 200 started @ 1988. The 100/rhodium trim/150 gold trim in 1985.

 

Regular flex is a bit dryer than semi-flex so is a bit better for shading inks...in M&F....EF is way too narrow to shade with. IMO.

B can be a tad wet....got to get one (B and a 150 down at my B&M)...I'm missing B in regular flex. 150 and 200 are just a tad different, the 150 fits the 200 but the 200 not the 150, and I have a spare nibless 150 hanging around.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[senzen]

And what a start!

[Runnin_Ute]

Nice first Pelikan.

[putteringpenman]

 

I got a B nib. I'm planning to post a review soon! I will say that it has more flex than I expected and has a smooth nib. There are a few problems with skipping that I'm trying to fix.

 

As an update for anyone who may have been turned off the M120 by my earlier comment about skipping, the issue is resolved now.

 

After talking to a pen friend from my local meetup about this issue, she suggested that I use a wetter ink before making any nib adjustments. I had only tried Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite in the pen figuring that a Pelikan pen would write well with a Pelikan ink.

 

Well, not true in this case. I guess the M120 steel nib is much drier than their gold nibs so I need a wetter ink than Pelikan ink.

 

I switched over to using Pilot Iroshizuku in the M120 and it is writing much better now.

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting. My first bird was a 1990s era M400, with a springy and fairly juicy F nib, and I found that Iroshizuku (in that case Yama-guri) was way too wet for the pen. It did much better with drier inks (with Noodler's Walnut, it's a dream combination of pen and ink).

I'll have to try my Iconic Blue with something else to see how it does (the MB Beatles ink worked very well).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

I had issues with a new Pelikan italic nib when it had J Herbin Cafe des Iles in it. It would not write with the first stroke. But it writes well with Robert Oster Cafe Crema.