J welcome to the site. Great looking pens, we look forward to seeing more from you.
I had the pleasure of meeting J at a show I did in Nashville and when he told me his first pen was "kitless" I was sorta speechless. Here I'd spent a bunch of money and bought a lot of fancy equipment to make pens from kits when a very mannerly young comes up and tells me he made a pen by "just figuring it out". Talk about being inventive!
Y'know, that is something worth considering. I am always trying to set money aside to purchase KITS. First it was the Executive, Fountain Pens, Slimline and now Cigar phase. Why not just buy a bunch of transmissions, tips and go kitless. Teach thyself how to make attractive clips, center bands and go for it. Make them better than the kits and voila !!! You will have saved yourself a bunch of money. Right??