In my post of 21 September 2023, I wrote about my eBay purchase of a Parker 61 Flighter and my initial tinkering as I got to know its anatomy. I had been pleased to discover that the connector was not glued into the section, as I could remove it and the feed, ink collector and nib for cleaning and maintenance.

There was a downside to this. Not having the connector glued meant that when trying to remove the barrel, the connector unscrewed itself from the section (shell) instead. The section threads were looser than the barrel threads. Also, applying silicone grease to the section threads might have made things worse. I was wary of over-tightening the shell in case it should crack.

I had filled the pen and enjoyed writing with it. But I then discovered that, on tightening the barrel, it did not stop tightly at the end of the threads, but kept going round and round. I wondered whether the fine plastic threads were stripped.

I thought perhaps the problem was not damaged threads, but that (what I presumed to be) a threaded, plastic collar inside the steel barrel, was loose and turning freely inside the barrel. This lead me to decide that the solution would be to apply a little Loctite superglue, to the rim of the plastic collar, in the hope that the glue would seep behind it.

This operation (even if it had been the right one) did not go particularly well. I applied too much glue and got some on the threads too. But I left the glue to harden for several hours.

Returning to see the results, I tried re-attaching the barrel. This time, the threads were much stiffer and needed a lot of effort, as well as care to avoid the barrel going on cross-threaded. I tried removing some of the build up of hardened glue with a small blade, without much success. Also, once sure that it was not cross-threaded, I worked the barrel back and forth quickly, many times, trying to loosen up the threads.

Having the barrel threads so tight and difficult, meant that whenever removing the barrel, the connector would instead unscrew from the shell. This is no good. The pen was all but unusable. I contemplated buying a replacement brushed steel barrel.

But then, whilst wrestling with the barrel threads again, I made a surprise discovery. The barrel threads were not a plastic collar at all, but were part of a black plastic barrel liner, which went the length of the barrel. I only learned of this, because it came out.

The barrel liner should be secured in the barrel by a metal screw, which forms the barrel finial. It has a decorative, conical top but no groove for a screw driver, which makes it very difficult to tighten. Also, from the look of the barrel liner, it appeared to have been glued in the past, as there were residues of hardened glue on the outside.

With the barrel liner out, it was easier for me to work on removing my glue. Scraping with a blade and working the threads back and forth, did not seem to help.

I looked up online, how to remove Loctite glue. The answers depended on the surface. For plastics, there was a suggestion, as a gentle approach, that you apply skin moisturiser to soften the glue first. Alternatively, white vinegar might work. Failing this, there was a suggestion to try pure Acetone.

I tried the moisturiser trick but do not think it helped much if at all. I did not have any vinegar to try, let alone Acetone.

At our local pharmacy, I casually enquired whether they had any nail varnish remover. Whilst the lady located some, I explained that I did not want it for removing nail varnish, but hoped that it might contain Acetone, to remove some glue!

To my surprise, the lady said that she could instead sell me some pure Acetone. I had no idea that this could be bought over the counter. A small, 50ml bottle was just £1.20.

I was a bit frightened of the Acetone as the bottle label was peppered with warnings. I had read that with plastics, you should try it on a small unobtrusive area first, but skipped that. I dipped a cotton-bud into some Acetone and applied it to patches of my hardened glue at the threads. Rather alarmingly, the cotton-bud came away quite black. I feared that it had dissolved the plastic, completely removing the threads in the process.

Fortunately, this was not the case. I washed the barrel liner thoroughly in soapy water and tried the threads again. Better! They were getting looser. I then smothered the threads in moisturiser, to soften the glue, and left it for 24 hours, before having another couple of attempts with the Acetone.

After this, although glue residue was still evident, I felt that the threads were probably as loose as I could get them without overdoing it.

Re-assembling the pen, I did not use silicone grease in the shell this time. The barrel threads were now looser. Unfortunately however, the barrel liner could still rotate inside the barrel.

This has been a learning curve for me, making mistakes along the way, whilst learning about the penatomy of the Parker 61 Flighter. I have not given up yet. I have just ordered a small bottle of shellac to apply a little to fix the connector into the shell, plus a little to the outside of the barrel liner, to secure this into the steel barrel. If this succeeds, I will be able to use and enjoy this lovely pen with more confidence.

Update: 23 October 2023.

Sorry for this cliff-hanger ending. But since writing this post, I had another idea to stop the barrel liner from rotating by wedging a slip of paper between it and the barrel. I cut a piece of paper and wrapped it around the back end of the barrel liner before re-inserting it and doing up the screw/finial. This worked! I also screwed the connector into the shell a little more tightly than before. Now, I can unscrew the barrel without the connector coming out instead. Also, when putting the barrel back on, it stops at the end of the threads, in the normal way. To celebrate, I have inked the pen with Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red!