My last FT order was placed June 22nd for some misc little items like I mentioned, shipped as a whole, but still hasn't arrived.
I ended up buying a Penny clone from ebay for $27 shipped, figured if I mess it up popping my patina cherry I can just write it off. I went ahead and stripped my black copper Stingrays 18500 tube to practice on, since I don't even own any 500's, lol. Probably do it with the 350 tube as well. Already got an rda / tip to match the black on the 650 though so I'm gonna leave it alone probably. May be posting some pics here this weekend on how it turns out.