There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
I‘d also probably add that, at least for me, the FA nib with the needlepoint (spectarican) customization is not the easiest daily writer and so it was relegated to either my desk or a padfolio I dont use much. Plus, as you noted, the feed does not always keep up. I would say that the strokes required for western letters are much longer and require more ink than those that would be written in the east. Also, the slower feed in the context of spectarican or copperplate forces you to write slowly and not rush, which is what you’re supposed to do anyway.
I’ll have to send you a frankenpelikan, it’ll flip the whole thing on its head—modern body, filling system, and feed, but a hand-selected vintage flexy nib.
I did carry that Wahl Pen for about two months as a daily—it never leaked. However, with old pens that use a sac, you always run the risk, but that risk is usually minimal and you can reduce the risk if you carry the pen in a case (like the Manhattan postage case I picked up on here in a massdrop exclusive drop). I actually prefer sac or piston pens over coverter pens, even though the former is more likely to leak—I find they flow much better and more consistently, on average.
Hopefully this means we’ll see some more flexy writing here on Massdrop!