Ban Mi Neutron 90° RG (Red & Green) has a black ink base, but it’s crammed full of multi-color shimmer particles that shift from red to green depending on the angle of the light. Some other brands call this “chameleon” shimmer. There is also a some copper sheen. While the name is “red” it’s really more of a reddish purple. It’s less purple than the other inks in the line, but it’s still not exactly “red”.
There are two more inks in the Neutron 90° series: Blue/Purple and Green/Purple.
Take care when using shimmer inks! Using them in the wrong pen or in the wrong way can lead to a clog. Use a pen that seals very well and has high “wet” flow, such as a TWSBI Diamond 580, or a TWSBI ECO. If the pen can be completely disassembled for cleaning, that’s even better. Always gently agitate the pen before writing and after every few words. This ensures the shimmer particles are mixed well with the ink and don’t settle on the feed and clog.
Video
Video is the best way to see the color-shifting effect in the shimmer.
In this video, the card stays still and the light source is moving.
Scans
The scans don’t show as much of the shimmer, so you mostly see the base color and a tiny bit of the red shimmer.
Like the other inks in this line, without the shimmer, it’s a fairly saturated black with some shading.
Photos
These photos are separated by paper type to show the shimmer color at different light angles.
Col-o-ring is OK, but the red doesn’t show as much in the swab across the cap, while the green does.
The shimmer in this ink shows very well on Iroful in both the swatch and the writing.
Again, MD shows the shimmer the best in the writing. There was a little spill-over in the large swatch across the stamp lines, but the bulk of it still looks great.
Microscope
Under magnification the shimmer is evenly spread on all paper types.
The sheen is more visible on Iroful around the edges of the lines and also in the large swatches. There’s even some shading on Iroful showing through.
Chromatography
The chromatography starts gray and then fades into a dark cyan.
Under UV there is a only a blue halo past the leading edge.
Verdict
Like the Blue/Purple and Green/Purple inks before this, the multi-color shimmer is really cool. The black base color really lets the shimmer stand out.
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