more obsession · 2006-03-30 20:38
I have been known to obsess over pens (black, fibre, fineliner, smallest nib possible). Recent trips to art and stationery shops have come up with nothing worth mentioning (Copic Multi Liners) until today.
Staedtler redefined technical drawing (or some other PR-ism) with the Mars Professional. The idea here is that you replace the entire core – ink, nib and all – but keep the outside. What I like: black only, odd 0.18mm line width “conforms to ISO 128 and 3098” (are these pen standards?), safety twist cap. What I don’t like: cheap shoddy case, the body is metallic plastic, nicely weighted but could be twice as heavy (maybe I can hack the casing), and…. oh, how could they do this… integrated roll-stop. There’s a little nub of plastic on the grip area to prevent it rolling.
This is going to take some getting used to.
comments
Sacura Pigma Micron? Archival ink, good line, plenty of widths. Probably a sketching pen rather than a draughtsman’s, but when you get into Rapidograph territory, things get a bit bonkers. I’m not a fineliner person myself (give me a fountain pen with a stub nib) but that’s the fineliner I use.
I use those quite a lot. Bought 2 more at the same time as the Mars Professional.
I do have a Rapidograph, but I have the finest tip on it, and it’s a bit scratchy for everyday use.
ISO 128 is Technical drawings—General principles of presentation and ISO 3098 is Technical product documentation—Lettering.
Sorry about the awfully long URLs; I couldn’t be bothered figuring out which parameters could be safely removed.
— Paul Mison 3.04.06 #