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I liked the look of the Hero 856 and bought one. It has a number of classic design elements, like the stepped metal end caps and ball clip, giving it a wonderful vintage look. While waiting on it, I read a translated blog that referred to the Type 28 fountain pen made by Golden Star and others, and still made by Hero. Am I correct that the 856 is the modern Type 28? So then I had to get the Golden Star to compare and they are virtually the same pen, with different nibs, imprints, and two visibly updated parts. Photo of both below, Hero is the top pen. The blog gave me the impression that the Type 28 was something of an icon in the Chinese pen world, so I thought it was possible the very knowledgeable people here might have some additional information and perspectives on this pen. I did search FPN and didn’t see ‘Type 28’ but my apologies if this has been discussed before.

I picked up a Golden Star cloisonne pen yesterday that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be white (or at least, there's a similar pen attributed to Venus that's white: https://evan-fountainpens.blogspot.com/2010/05/703.html) and not its current state of aged-beige. I've read some posts on here about cleaning cloisonne, but nothing about whitening (or at least brightening). Is there really no way to restore the original color? I'm afraid I already know the answer but wanted to check with folks who are more experienced. Link to my pen, as well as embedded image: https://imgur.com/a/I5MJsqM

Does anyone know how to clean and rehab this particular pen? I think it's modeled on the Parker 51. It has a hooded nib and is a desk pen. It was a gift to my father from a friend of his. Pictures here https://imgur.com/a/2dbeDDC I managed to flush it by pumping the bladder until it filled with water and then pumping out the water and doing that several times until it ran clear but there is still residual water and ink in the bladder. It looks like the bladder just comes off of the collar it's on, it doesn't appear that it's glued onto it, and breather tube inside of the bladder looks to be okay. But I'm a little worried about taking that bladder off to completely clean it for fear of not getting it back on but I really need to get all the ink and water out of it. Was thinking if I took it off I could flush it with an ear syringe or something. And it looks to me like the hooded nib is actually part of the lower pen assembly/barrel. Shouldn't the nib and the collector come out somehow so they can be cleaned too? Or do I need to worry about cleaning all of that? Ideas and suggestions, please? I'd like to be able to use this pen since it was my fathers. It also looks like there might have been a little brass cap of some kind on top of it at one point. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

My mom recently gave my brother two fountain pens she used back in her school days, one which was identifiable as a Hero 261. The other is a Golden Star pen, which I've seen mentioned a few times on this forum, but the exact model is uncertain and I was wondering if anyone could help. It's bladder fill (I think? I've only used converters up until this point so this is new to me) and is virtually unmarked except for the english words GOLDEN STAR printed around the cap and the chinese characters for golden star (jinxing) on the inside metal part. The nib is similarly unmarked except for a square with a four-petaled flower design.