Going into the rabbit hole of calligraphy, I tried to find the best modern flex pen. Everything online pointed towards the FPR Ultra Flex being the most cost effective option so I ordered one with the black ebonite body. There is a lot of posts online of people struggling with the pen as it is known to leak, burp, and railroad. Thankfully I didn’t experience any of these problems, and it worked outside of the box beautifully. The body is made of black ebonite, a hard rubber material. It honestly felt like warm plastic. The trims are made of gold plated metal.
This pen is widely known for its affordable and high flexing nib. In order to allow flex, the sides are thinned out similar to the #10 pilot fa, and the slit is lengthen all the way to the grip section. It is also paired with a wide ebonite feed which keeps it running wet at all times. Maybe a little too wet.
The pen uses a twist style converter that is proprietary to FPR. The converter threads are covered in silicone grease, which when runs low causes the pen to leak ink into the cap.
While the nib can’t write as fine as the pilot fa #10 nib, it does flex a whole lot more. It is great for large calligraphy, but for small writing it tends to run too wet causing the letters to look blobby. The pen is also super wet for normal paper, so I would only use it for fountain pen friendly paper. As a regular, daily writer it is very bouncy and fun to use although you have to be careful about the pressure or it will firehose ink.
Here is a sample of calligraphy that is possible with this pen. Ive been learning flourishes and they look gorgeous using the FPR. I highly recommend this pen to anyone who is dabbling in calligraphy or wants to try a flex pen.
pen to paper 
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