Cheap, cheap plastic Hero pens - $3.00 each

January 25, 2007

For sale: Hero "Worker Bee" fountain pens, new (old?) stock. I bought a lot of these on eBay, kept a few, and am passing on the rest.

http://www.yrex.com/pics/bees.jpg

THE BAD NEWS: These are cheaply made, even by Hero standards. They're extremely lightweight plastic, and nobody will mistake them for a more expensive pen. Some of the edges are a bit rough. They're also a bit small (just over 5" posted, about 4.7" capped.)

Unlike most Hero pens, these are cartridge fillers; each pen includes a cartridge of black ink. The cartridges are a bit strange - halfway between the length of short and long standard cartridges - but I have verified that short "international standard" cartridges fit and work fine. In fact they fit better than the cartridge that came with the pen, which took a bit of effort to install.

I don't think a long cartridge or converter would fit, but one of the "mini" converters would probably work.

THE GOOD NEWS: They work. The cap fits on with a nice click, and has a metal clip. The nibs are metal (stainless steel?) and appear to have a bit of actual tipping material - definitely not the folded type. They write a fine (probably Chinese medium) line and rarely skip.

The design is definitely "inspired" by Stypen, with the over-long clip and even a "heropen" logo on the cap that resembles the logo on some Stypens I've seen.

These would be perfect pens to give away to potential FP users, lender pens, or guinea pigs for any nib-grinding experiments you want to try.

PRICES INCLUDING US SHIPPING: $3.00 for one pen, $5.00 for two, or $7.00 for three. Limit three pens per customer. I have a total of 10 to sell.

I will dip-test each one and smooth it with Micromesh to ensure it's a half-decent writer. (Please note that I'm not a nibmeister. My current grade is "nibweasel".)

See eBay (user mmoncur) for my feedback. Return (you pay shipping) within 30 days for a full refund if not satisfied.