Platinum Preppy, first fountain pen

The Preppy is my first fountain pen .. sort of. I had used fountain pens in the elementary school and I stopped using them as soon as I finished it. The use of a fountain pen was not a requirement in higher grades. I switched to a ballpoint without looking back.
I can say I was traumatized by the fountain pen in my early school years. Ok traumatized is a bit much but I did not like the constant need of refilling it, I always had dirty hands, the ink smudged, and many times drips of ink were in the cap because of the handling.
For some time I wanted to test a fountain pen, and after a bit of research, i went for the Platinum Preppy. It is a nice looking pen, demonstrator style. In the shops, most fountain pens are for kids but this one is great for everyone.

The pen comes in a plastic bag, nothing fancy.
The first thing I did was to remove the writing from the barrel. I tried to use a rag and alcohol. It works but it is not easy, so I used the back of the Opinel blade. I managed not to scratch the plastic while removing the writing, but you need to be careful.

Now instead of the ugly logo plus a ton of fine print, I can see the ink and the inside. I like the clear plastic look. It's modern, convenient as you can see if you are running low on ink plus it is not too flashy.

The build quality is not one of the best. For example, the threads on the barrel are twice the size of the thread on the nib section. It fits well but you can see that some corners had been cut to save money.

The writing experience.

Since this is a new hobby it is hard to properly evaluate the performance. But I will say that the nib was a bit scratchy while moving it to the right. It put me off and I start messing with it. I tried realigning the tongs, then polished the nib on the back of a ceramic cup. It writes a lot smoother but wider and wetter. I like the result and I think there is still some work to be done.

Overall the fact you have to mess with it is not a big minus. There are a lot more expensive fountain pens that come with a substandard nib out of the box. 

This is an aspect of the fountain pen world that I do not like.

So I would say that for such a cheap pen and such a fine nib (0.3 mm) it is not a deal breaker.

I found out that I enjoy writing with a fountain pen. I wrote nonsense worth of 10 pages. Just for fun 😃 

Maybe I will try a conversion to an eyedropper.

Considering that I like using a fountain pen so much I will probably buy a better pen soon after all the Preppy served its purpose. I just wanted to see if I will use a fountain pen or I will stick to my old trusty mechanical pencils.