Chinese Pens Show And Tell.

[Mech-for-i]

So I would be blamed for all ... well don't matter, now let's see, what's next on the cache that I should put up for exhibition ... Seele like the KW Rockman/ GLM , and I happen to have some of their late interesting ones .... Nice writing yet again Ian , now that you've experienced Wing Sung's large wrapped / conical nib, you should try their mid sized one on the 322 / 84X , its a somewhat different one

[MontPelikan]

Hello,

here is a little video review of the

 

KEVIN & SASA Crafts PD03:

 

Thank you for watching and sharing,

 

MontPelikan

[Ian the Jock]

  On 9/27/2017 at 4:01 AM, Mech-for-i said:

So I would be blamed for all ... well don't matter, now let's see, what's next on the cache that I should put up for exhibition ... Seele like the KW Rockman/ GLM , and I happen to have some of their late interesting ones .... Nice writing yet again Ian , now that you've experienced Wing Sung's large wrapped / conical nib, you should try their mid sized one on the 322 / 84X , its a somewhat different one

Yes Mech-for-i you're to blame.

Before you had posted this I'd already ordered a 234, and a 322 after embarking on the voyage you had suggested previously.

 

I love the 2 tone conical nib on the 841, and a few of the other pens, it looks fantastic.

I supposedly wasn't ordering any more pens until after my holiday, but I've convinced myself that these 2 don't count as they won't arrive until after I get back.

 

Ian

[MontPelikan]

Hello,

 

here is a little review of the Hero 1078 with FUDE nib.

 

 

Thank you for watching and sharing!!

 

MontPelikan

[MrDickens]

  On 10/1/2017 at 11:41 AM, MontPelikan said:

Hello,

 

here is a little review of the Hero 1078 with FUDE nib.

 

 

Thank you for watching and sharing!!

 

MontPelikan

 

Really helpful & timely as I ordered one blind from a well known Chinese site, still waiting on it to arrive.

[Mech-for-i]

These days many Chinese pens are using the de facto standard no.5 nibs , but it was not the case then .. and what brings about that start with this single unassuming pen I here had on show , namely , the Hero 26 vintage mid 1980's ; no.5 nibs was not really stranger among Chinese pens, it was used as far back as Chinese pen manufacturing had been starting way back in the 20's in the then button fillers. It was though pretty much standard affair in the years to come in the 50 and 26 sized pens, to the point that the said sized nibs were and are still routinely referred to as a no.26 nib. That said the old no.5 nib had usually shorter nib body and wider wings / shoulders. What we typically termed a no.5 today is more the German standard no.5 which had longer more slender nib profile with narrower toe and less flared out wings / shoulder. During the early 80's Hero and other Chinese pen manufacturers start technical exchange with a number of outside firms and start placing more business concern in export market, This brings about a change in the Hero lineup to made a more export friendly and trendy slightly up market pens, and using the no.5 nib as a starting point, and out come the Hero 26, which in itself is very conservative by having the good old build in fixed aerometric filling together with a feed that facilitate a breather tube. But the new part is that now it spot a de facto no.5 nib ( German IPG technical exchange )

 

Hero 26 vintage 1980's

by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

Hero 26 original ver.

by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

The photo here shows the original version of the Hero 26 in the Dark Brown Red marbled / splatter lacquer over enamel finish; the other color option in the same kind of finishing is a bright blue. This version is easily spotted by the nib embossing which clearly state the model no. in a stylized text of " 26 " stamped onto the two tone nib. Latter version of the Hero 26 do not have this nib stamping and had the rather more common typical Hero nib ( pattern still around today ). The 26 proved to be quite popular then and the 26 end up produced in many different finish and were sold in quantity.

 

Hero 26 nib embossing

by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

For some measurements, the pen itself

 

weight in at 20g

123mm un-posted

168mm posted

152mm capped

9.6mm widest at barrel

taper to 8.9mm barrel finale

& 8.1mm on section tip just above the trim ring

 

As a side note the styling was clearly all 1980's with a slender snap on cap, slanted top cap ( cap is 65mm long ) with plastic finale both end and also both barrel and cap band , with a silk screened on branding and model no. under the lacquer on the cap and a gold plated spring loaded and hinged clip. The styling was quite well received to the point that Hero pretty much re do the same for their 261, 26-1, 26-11, and then a whole load of other models and can be seen yet still ( the slanted top cap finale ) in the current cataloged 9215

[Ian the Jock]

I've been meaning to respond to this for a wee while.

Those pens are excellent Mech-for-i.

I really like the styling, which is very 80s.

That design/style seemed to have been quite big around that time with many manufacturers, with Waterman being one, whose pens from that era I have a particular fancy for.

I really like both of your pens, particularly the black one.

Thanks for showing us these Mech, your insight and your enlightening posts and photos are brilliant.

I'd really like to get my hands on one of those original black 26s, in fact, both of them

 

Ian

[richila]

 

I got a bunch of pens in the mail today. I needed the orange Baoer 501. It is inked with D. Pumpkin. The dark blue is a Bookworm inked with D. Midnight.

I know the Black next to it is also Bookworm - no idea of the model. I bought the lot to get the orange pen.

The next 3 are Baoers, I don't know the model.

1 Luoshi 687

1 Sailstar 390 was a gift with purchase

2 Lanbitou 615

10 pens for less than $40 including shipping.

The 2 that I've inked write beautifully and will be pressed into service immediately. The blue Bookworm may take the place of my black Baoer 517 for the Midnight.

[Ian the Jock]

A fine haul Richila.

The Baoers look like they may be 500s, and the Bookworms look cool, especially the dark blue one.

Was the orange 501 to complete a set?

 

Ian

[richila]

No, I just love orange and I didn't have that one.

My husband has the black Bookworm inked with Levenger Greystoke.

Edited October 11, 2017 by richila

[Mech-for-i]

  On 10/10/2017 at 1:37 PM, Ian the Jock said:

...

I'd really like to get my hands on one of those original black 26s, in fact, both of them

 

 

 

Well as I've stated, the Hero 26 were make and sold in quantity abundant, AFAIK, NOS can still fairly easy to find, though not all of the over 20+ so finishing I know of. This shown finishing though I am sure I've still seen them floating on the market here and there.

[Ian the Jock]

Well!

I've really opened a can of worms now.

This chap was waiting for me when I arrived back from my recent sojourn to the wilds of Yorkshire.

And what a pleasant surprise it was too.

 

 

 

I'm really liking these pens.

Of the 2, I prefer the 322 to the 235, which is just a matter of personal taste.....I like red marble

Both write very well, and are helping me write with a very light hand, which has opened up a whole new level of enjoyment for me.

 

Chinese pens...........The pens that just keep on giving.

 

Ian

[Mech-for-i]

Rainbow 815 circa very early 90's , a pen more than what meets the eyes

 

Rainbow 815 by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

The Rainbow 815 was released way back in the very early 90's my research say around late 1991 but I am not sure about it , it can be somewhat around that period taken or given a bit. From what it looks like its like a steel flighter version of the other Rainbow hood nib based on the Hero 616 parts, which it is. The section is almost the same as that of the model 800/202 with the same inlay. The steel cap and barrel had a spiral chiseled grid pattern and the model name Rainbow 815 is on the cap lip ( in Chinese ). You would expect an aerometric filling and that's what you get when you unscrew the barrel, BUT ...

 

Rainbow 815 updated with moden piston converter by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

This is how it looks right now if I am using the pen , that screw drive piston converter obviously is of much later production and a retrofit, but that's not the point .. the point is at the time many fountain pen no longer feature fixed filling system and go towards using converter, Rainbow's engineer , device a way to replicate the old system with their own, namely an aerometric style converter, now you would say this is nothing new, Hero / Parker ... etc etc been doing that since way way back , sure but have you seen an aerometric converter with a ...\

 

Rainbow 815 disassembled by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

( @.@ ) yes, a build in breather tube , actually its the first time I've seen one when I got this pen quite a couple years back, and since then I've learn why this design do not stay. The feature turned out to have quite a few flaws. First the breather tube is kind of fragile and sticking out like this its easily bend or damaged. Then on the section receptor side, there is a hole in the protruding receptacle ( to the converter ) that the tube need to poke through and then another behind that connect the breather tube to the ink collector / feed. Needless to say even a slight bend of the tube will render it almost impossible to push it in right and if forced, the tube will get damaged, I've sine retire the converter entirely and put it into collection. Fortunately the receptor is of the size same as Hero's wide mouth converter aka Parker's and that's why you see what I've got on the 2nd photo.

 

All the other part of the pen is pretty straight forward and expected as they are, it uses the same pen mechanism as the 616 without the ink window of course. The cap and barrel finale is steel with a black plastic insert ( with a bold R on the cap finale ) The red part you see on the clip is another insert on the clip that do the holding onto the fabric when clipped. Clip itself is only a single flat piece of steel. The nib surprisingly write very smooth and with much less feedback even vs Rainbow's own

[Ian the Jock]

This delightful wee number landed on the doormat this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

It makes me smile.

 

Ian

[bluebellrose]

  On 11/26/2016 at 9:28 PM, jekostas said:

The Ling Mo "Lorelei" fountain pen in blue. Uses a Pilot Super Quality compatible nib so you can switch in an italic from a Plumix and it'll work just fine. Even comes in a surprisingly nice box that can be re-purposed for storage.

 

http://i.imgur.com/a7MOAtI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6sfTSai.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/HrypHXj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VKiQTpz.jpg

o.o looks like those Chinese vases my mom talks about.

[Ian the Jock]

Here's a couple of better pics of the Panda pen.

I've been using my phone for pics recently as I changed laptop and the new one didn't have a card reader...but we're sorted now.

 

 

 

It really is quite a big chunky pen, and I'm becoming more enamoured with it by the day, it does write very nicely and has a lovely balance.

Maybe someone can translate the characters on the barrel to give a clue as to who makes it.

 

Ian

[frankb3]

  On 11/2/2017 at 2:24 PM, Ian the Jock said:

Here's a couple of better pics of the Panda pen.

 

 

 

It really is quite a big chunky pen, and I'm becoming more enamoured with it by the day, it does write very nicely and has a lovely balance.

Maybe someone can translate the characters on the barrel to give a clue as to who makes it.

 

Ian

I have another pen from the same company, it's the 238. The aliexpress listing claimed it was a Pingyaocy (never heard of it). Here are pics of my pen:

http://efball.com/images/pens/Pingyaocy1.jpg

http://efball.com/images/pens/Pingyaocy2.jpg

http://efball.com/images/pens/Pingyaocy3.jpg

http://efball.com/images/pens/Pingyaocy4.jpg

My Chinese friend says the Chinese writing (on both our pens) reads: "bad pen".

 

The other writing on this pen references the Four Great Classical Novels:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels

 

I thought it looked nice, and it was $3 with an extra nib. It writes fine, but the cap doesn't seal well. It posts very well. In the first pic you can see the dragon on the clip lost an eyeball, I'll touch it up with red nail polish.

 

"bad pen" must be their joke on Americans that buy pens they can't read.

[Mech-for-i]

Just to clear the fact for you guys, the plaque on both of the pen simply state " Lanbitou 238 " .. and yes franb3, your red pen had the embossed text which state " the four classic novel " on the barrel near the tip end, and on the other end " world of literature art " and the name of the four novel in straight down text in between, where Ian's got panda graphics. I think there are 2 more variant of this pen is the other colors ( Blue and Silver )

 

And the " bad pen " part is a mis-translation. Well, in a loose term I would not say they had translate it wrong, as the name " Lanbitou " by the text mean " weathered / well worn brush tip " but of course its not just a fun take on the fact the name is used on a pen. It actually refer to an old axiom that's almost always directed towards students of all kinds ; and that old axiom goes like " a good brain is still no match for a well worn brush tip " figuratively meaning even if one got good memory ; its still better to just jot down notes with any info worth noting

[truthpil]

  On 9/23/2017 at 1:24 PM, Mech-for-i said:

 

They've added the Milky White and the Dark Green ( same as those on Lorelei I think ) ....

 

This looks like a second chance for those like myself who missed on the green acrylic Lorelei. These pens are gorgeous!!

Can you put any other nibs in this pen? If it could take a standard #5 or even a Pilot nib like the Lorelei does, I'd be willing to get a few of these.

[oneill]

  On 8/17/2015 at 7:52 PM, Ian the Jock said:

I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can show our Chinese pens to anyone who wants to look at them, a kind of combined "show us what pens you're using" and "what pen are you using today" but for Chinese pens.

I've read people talking about a certain pen, only to rake about and not be able to find any pics of it.

So.

There is no criteria other than that your pen should be Chinese.

You only need post what you want... a pic, the pens name, or if you want to explain how/why/where you got it, or if there is a story attached, it is entirely up to yourself.

It doesn't need to be your favourite, just whatever you want to stick on and tell people about at that particular time, for whatever reason.

If you want to do a picture review of a pen you've just bought, fine, do a review.

It might let other fans of Chinese pens see yours and think "ooh I'd like one of those", as I know that raking around on this forum is how I happened upon many of the pens I have.

I've amassed quite a number of Chinese pens in the past 9 months, therefore I have many to show, and I'm pretty sure many others are the same.

 

So go on

SHOW US YER CHINESE PENS.

 

I'll start.

Today, for no particular reason, I'm going to show....

 

A Hero 3013 in Red, with Chinese text and a golden gragon embossed on it.

 

 

Cheers

Ian

I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A GOLDEN GRAGON,BUT IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT THEY EXIST.ONEILL.