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Having purchased an Aurora Ferrari (Hastil) around Xmas last year, I was spurred by Wattz for Ziti's January thread about slim pens to go looking for other pens that were mentioned, especially those in alexwi's list. I love the Ferrari but the cap is super heavy due to the huge brass clip and I wanted to find a few lighter offerings. Here's what I ended up with (soorry for the poor quality of the pics, eh): L to R: Ferrari, Parker 180 Flighter, Sheaffer Slim Targa Pinstripes, Slim Targa matte black/chrome, Hastil matte black, Fashion matte black, Hastil Ciselle, with a Parker 50; even that diminutive pen looks fat in comparison nibs: gold EF, steel M/EF, gold M Triumph, steel M Triumph, gold EF, gold-plated steel F, gold EF (I'm assuming, haven't inked it) Here's another pic of the striped Targa; though the 1st pic prob shows it off better, pics just don't do it justice, the way the gold stripes catch the light is amazing. One small problem it has is there's always a smear of ink across the nib just below the breather hole, that's where that ink spot above came from. I don't recall this happening on the black/chrome one when I had it inked. I've been checking ebay occasionally looking for a 14k F Triumph, though the M isn't too bad. They all write well, the F's and M's smoother than the EF's on the Hastils, of course. The black Hastil and the striped Targa both use carts and the first time I refilled them, they both ended up leaking into the barrel (and out the bottom spring pad holes on the Hastil into my shirt pocket) but hadn't had any problems on subsequent fills. Ink-wise, I have KWZ Lux Grey in the striped Targa, the black Hastil and the Fashion, Diamine Manngis in the 180 and Diamine Ruby in the Ferrari; I first tried Monaco which was great and laid down a nice, very distinct line but I wanted something a little closer to the red accents. Wild Strawberry was too pale in EF but the Ruby is a good choice, color matches fairly well and the line is pretty distinct. Black Targe not inked atm and I haven't inked the silver Hastil. Looks-wise, they're all quite nice, especially the striped Targa, though a bit too striking perhaps; the Ferrari is dashing and I'd use it more if it weren't for the heavy clip; the black/chrome Targa is kind of meh, while the black Fashion and Hastil are the cat's PJs - there's just something elegant about matte black with gold trim that I find very appealing. The Hastil has the edge here, the barrel taper isn't as pronounced and the brushed clip is more subdued than the shiny Targa one. The silver Hastil, well, I just saw silver Hastil and odered it without looking more carefully to see the "Ciselle". It's nice enough, I suppose and at least it's not Parker Ciselle, with the big, honking squares and what looks (in photos) like black crosshatching; no, the pattern is extremely fine, with the tiny facets like glitter so it sparkles in the light but, being just a length of shiny silver with no variation, it's kind of bland. Maybe if it had a gold clip... The Parker 180 is perhaps the most interesting. It looks quite dainty; it's the shortest (by 3/16s - 1/4") and the barrel tapers the most (it's not the slimmest, though, as the Targa's cap can easily slip into the 180's cap). The brushed stainless is also very smooth and very slippery - I did drop it once. It's also the only one I have trouble maintaining the right positioning of the nib (I find it rolls slightly to one side or the other), possibly because of the long tapering section. Still, it has the (possibly most) quintessential Parker "look" and the wedge-shaped nib exerts an almost hypnotic fascination. That's my little collection of slim pens. If you have any questions about particular pens, please ask.

---------- Verbose introduction; hang on to your britches! ---------- I recently bought a used Aurora Hastil (red body, yellow gold nib) on ebay for a very reasonable price. This is my first gold nib fountain pen and first retro pen. The entire pen has a wonderful feel to it! The body seems to be made of a golden metal with a red plastic coating that has a remarkably luxurious feel. The cap clicks to the rest of the body with a reassuring CLICK, and glides onto the rear of the body when posted. The Aurora designers included soft plastic standoffs to prevents scratching when the cap is posted. Overall, the pen is incredibly light and thin, but has a very clean look to it. Once I figure out how to post photos, I will do that. The clip is wonderful as well. It is obviously designed to sit in a shirt pocket, because the clip nearly rests on the cap, indicating that it is intended to clip to a thin fabric. Pants are out of the question, so I think a dress shirt pocket would make sense. As an aside; for those of you who have tried wearing fountain pens in your dress shirt pocket, several bad things may happen (and have for me): 1. If the pen is heavy (think TWSBI), your shirt pocket sags, and your shirt looks terrible. 2. The clip does not have the necessary contact surface area with the shirt fabric, and you simply bending over results in a few curse words as the pen slides out and *SMACK*s into the ground. So, I placed the pen in my dress shirt pocket, and did a hand stand. Done. No sliding, and the pen seems happy to be there with me, fighting gravity. The section, feed, and nib look remarkably well made. The section is stamped with a serial number, the feed doesn't have lines left from the molding manufacturing process, and the nib looks very simplistic but nice. On the side it is stamped with '14 kt'. -------- end of verbose introduction; on to business! ---------- When I unscrewed the pen for the first time, I saw what I had expected, but hoped wouldn't be the case. The pen was still inked; if you can call it that.. The ink cartridge did have ink in it at one point in its history, but the ink had dried, leaving a crusty residue in the cartridge. This of course is not a big deal, what is.. is the feed. I immediately started cleaning out the feed with a bulb syringe (as per Stephen's tutorials). I filled the bulb syringe with room temperature water, and streamed it through the feed from the section side. As expected, a constant flow of dark black ink was expelled from the tip of the pen. I did this with probably 5 or so syringes until I got a clear stream. I dried the nib off and let it set for the next day. The next day, I pushed through another bulb syringe, and sure enough... more dark color. This time a deep violet color. I have repeated this process for 3 days now, and I'm somewhat irritated at this slow process. I took studiohead's recommendation and suspended the section/nib/feed under water. I got the following really cool results: Does anyone know how to take an Aurora Hastil apart? I would like to give the feed a good scrubbing. Does anyone know of a faster way of cleaning the feed?

To celebrate the act of writing, here are photo reviews of two 'slim' pens (under 10 mm around at the grip). Notice that, with slip-on caps, 'threads' at the grip are not an issue, so the pens are equally smooth to hold. Also, though the pens may vary in size and shape, they are all about the same in girth, so the feeling of control as one grips the pen is about the same. Performance in this case it seems to me is in the nib itself. Both pens are aging beauties but are still manufactured (the Hastil) or available (the Fashion). The pangrams used are courtesy of Wits 'n Wisecracks: 251 Pangrams for Everyday Use by Millard Port, via Amazon Books. Enjoy this holiday excursion into thinness.

Hello, Moment ago I have discovered my beloved Aurora Hastil has lost one of its jewels somewhere on the way. Made my Monday really, really sad. Can someone help me with sourcing a replacement one? Help! http://ewebog.nazwa.pl/allegro/Hastil-1.JPG http://ewebog.nazwa.pl/allegro/Hastil-2.JPG Thank you in advance, Filip

Greetings Everyone- I am new here (just joined) and fairly new to fountain pens and forums in general. I have a repair question and am grateful for any help and advice. I recently bought a vintage Aurora Hastil and have discovered that the nib turns in the section (I think that is what it is called) and am guessing that this is not good. Is this repairable? If so, would sending it to Aurora be the best option or is there somewhere else that can fix this? Thanks in advance for any thoughts! Octatonic

Hello everyone:Not so long ago I purchased this Pierre Cardin vermeil. Reminded me very much to something known and looking for and comparing it with a normal Aurora Hastil I found that they are very similar. Does anyone have more info on this model? Does Pierre Cardin manufacture own pens? Are there more Aurora Hastil disguised under other brands (apart from the well known Montblanc Vip)?Between both pens there are differences like the clip, end caps and brands. I have attached some pictures.