A very short entry
While hunting for variants of the FC TK-fine and Castell XF extended family of MPs, whose shared design features a tapered hex body and a straight pinstripe grooved grip, I chanced on a lesser, much lesser seen model labeled ‘DS15’.
This silver colored version seems to have a metallized coating over plastic, kinda like the con job on the Pilot Young Skyline duo, and perhaps the Pentel PD505? It didn’t seem worthy of the asking price but, I had a purpose for it: as a match up for the same era ‘✽07L’ ballpoint.
Although the pen did not have a hex body, it was tapered and also had a somewhat similarly styled grip. It was challenging trying to search for the pen and knowing what to call it. It didn’t help if I included an asterisk, but I consider it a part of the name because it is seen on the packaging, clip and also some period advertisements.
Through those ads I learned that the pen series had 3 tiers:
✽07 for the basic color molded plastic model
✽07L for the silver metallized model, with ‘L’ having a similar designation as the TK-matic L.
… and ✽07LG for a glossy gold version…
You’re positive the ds15 is plastic? It’s very deceptive, even in the feel of it. It’s very light. I was told by a seller that it is plastic but in my hand I did not feel so sure. Honestly I would be more convinced it was aluminum
I have a DS15 too. Pretty sure it’s all metal (aluminum as @DarkwingDuck mentioned above). However, I do see a couple of what looks like injection points on the barrel end of mine. Perhaps investment cast? Or metal injection molding?
No one would be happier if the DS15 was actually aluminum! The seller couldn’t give me a definite answer, so I can only go by the body of evidence: so far, I have not seen any other metal body version of this design, so… would FC have created a one-model use metal cast?
To piggy back on the deduction of probability thought process…
They already made the DS05 in plastic which is essentially its counterpart. So why make another plastic but give a new model number to imply a higher value.
Also the two clips do not match, the 15s clip matches its body so they at minimum created a separate process for the clip.
And finally the two “boogers”, (I have no idea what to call them)… maybe injection mold marks where they were connected in succession , do not appear on the 05 and when I run across them with my finger they distinctly have a sharp metal feel to them.
Finally (again) simply tapping on them creates a wholly different sound than the plastic.
Stop overthinking it guys. It’s plastic covered with a metallic looking paint.
The entire Faber-Castell series of 9755, 9765, 9785, DS 05, DS 15, Castell XF share the exact same all plastic body and internals. Eraser, clip and button are identical. Only the cones are different but interchangeable (with taper or not, sliding or fixed sleeve). Barrel is the same mold using different colored plastic. Weight is the same.
Below photos of the ends of my well worn DS15 with paint peeled off showing a light grey plastic under.
Whichever the building material, I always found the DS 15 an interesting piece.
As for the matching pen, I find the tapered form factor systematically intriguing, even though tricky: some times it can deliver delightfully (the rOtring Art Pen FP feels very smooth and flawlessly-working to me), other times it becomes a conundrum (the rOtring Art Pencil, or the inverse-tapered Tombow Object SF, which I still have to fully understand).
I assume the *07L only comes in the pen format, and not with a true matching pencil; It is a bit of a pity on my view, there surely was potential to do an avant-garde set…
I’m trying to find the plastic colorful 07 version but so far only turned up some examples with advertising marks… I thought they would pair up just as nicely with all of the XF 97xx variants. The advertisements I’ve found do not show any matching pencil models.
@Vici81 - Boom. No question now. Thank you for sharing the pics and insight. I’m a tad disappointed it’s painted plastic, but it’s still a nice pencil.
