My Gama Padpad Aka Raja

[notimetoulouse]

Hari jee, once again, one of your reviews made me reach for my wallet.

Sh. Subramaniam over at ASAPENS has just posted me a Gama Hawk recommended by Anup (a_m here on FPN) plus a Raja based on this thread, and I'm now in full 'waiting for the postman' mode.

Both You and Anup jee have been a real fount of knowledge, and a great help in building my growing collection of Indian eyedroppers. Rangas yes, Gamas yes, butno Deccan or Guiders yet... but there's time!

Thanks again for your advice.

[hari317]

Hari jee, once again, one of your reviews made me reach for my wallet.

Sh. Subramaniam over at ASAPENS has just posted me a Gama Hawk recommended by Anup (a_m here on FPN) plus a Raja based on this thread, and I'm now in full 'waiting for the postman' mode.

Both You and Anup jee have been a real fount of knowledge, and a great help in building my growing collection of Indian eyedroppers. Rangas yes, Gamas yes, butno Deccan or Guiders yet... but there's time!

Thanks again for your advice.

[Scribblesoften]

" You and Anup jee have been a real fount of knowledge, and a great help in building my growing collection of Indian. Thanks again for your advice."

 

I could not agree more. I also received a Hawk and a Raja. I am using them both daily. I hope your pens arrive quickly notimetoulouse. I know you will like them.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Scribblesoften

[Anne-Sophie]

Thank you for sharing this most beautiful new acquisition!

[alexander_k]

Nice pen. I love my Indian ebonite pens but I wish they could have more choice in nibs.

[hari317]

Nice pen. I love my Indian ebonite pens but I wish they could have more choice in nibs.

I believe efforts are being taken to change the situation, shortly some pens will have a good choice of nibs and filling systems available. Also some sellers like ASApens.in have a stock of aftermarket bock nibs available for retrofit at the the time of sale. HTH.

[hari317]

Thank you for sharing this most beautiful new acquisition!

thank you Anne-sophie.

[Brian C]

I received mine today. Lovely pen and only 2 1/2 turns to uncap. The pen came "tested" from ASA Pens and started writing right away.

[notimetoulouse]

I received mine today. Lovely pen and only 2 1/2 turns to uncap. The pen came "tested" from ASA Pens and started writing right away.

I've just checked my postal tracking from ASApens and my Raja is currently sitting in a sorting office in Northern India, waiting for shipment to the airport. I'm pleased it's writing well straight out of the box for you Brian - I'm finding that asking Mr S to test the pen before it leaves his shop really pays dividends. I've not had a 'duff' nib yet.

Enjoy the Raja !

[deepak23]

 

For some practical reason, they decided to very deeply set the huge 35mm nib thus somewhat negating (IMHO, YMMV) the advantage afforded by the bigger nib. As shown in the following picture, a standard and cheaper Indian no 8 nib (28mm) could have done the job sufficiently well on the Padpad.

 

 

 

I have the normal version of this pen which Mr. Prasad of Gem calls the 'ball clip'. In that the nib is set properly and protrudes out much more than in this pic. From the pic it looks like they might have made an error in the assembly.

[hari317]

 

I have the normal version of this pen which Mr. Prasad of Gem calls the 'ball clip'. In that the nib is set properly and protrudes out much more than in this pic. From the pic it looks like they might have made an error in the assembly.

would love to see a pic of your normal version, somewhat upset that i got the abnormal one.

 

best

Hari

[Morbus Curiositas]

Wow very nice pens...

 

Do you know about other Indian brands as well

 

Regards

 

Peter

[hari317]

 

Do you know about other Indian brands as well

 

Somewhat yes. There are already some reviews, you might want to check the FPN reviews index.

[New_Falcon]

Thanks for the review. I'm getting sorely tempted to get an Indian made pen. Seems like that there a new models coming out at a regular basis.

 

I also like the fact that as well as 'lively' colours, they also have sober black pens.

[Brian C]

Gama pens are made by Gem and Company in Madras, a pen shop in the business since decades. I have reviewed their pens and posted some visit reports earlier, the interested reader may want to see the previous reviews etc at the following links.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/259557-madras-pen-shops-revisited/

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/254169-the-gama-supreme/

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/255781-the-gama-supreme-part-2/

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/258030-the-asapens-kuyil-made-by-gem-and-co-madras-india/

 

The Gama Raja is a new introduction to their lineup. Specified by ASA pens(an online pen shop based out of Chennai). I placed my order for the pen as soon as I spotted it on their website (I was slightly miffed to see that I had received no prior intimation about the upcoming model and had to discover it per chance on their site). Raja is what they like to call it, I call my pen the "padpad" .

 

Ok. the Padpad is also a dropper filled pen(regular filling). Made of black hard rubber, brushed finish. I liked the way the golden cap rings and the golden clip gelled with the brushed matte ebonite finish of the pen. It reminded me of my Deccan masterpiece GT which is the only other pen that I have seen with cap rings and a brushed finish. As you might know, the bushed finish is applied by hand using an abrasive paper, so by necessity, the shiny golden rings have to be attached to the pen(by swaging) after the final brushing to the pen is done, a laborious process. The mirror polished cap top and barrel bottom are nice touches.

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9594.jpg

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9595.jpg

 

Cap top:

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9596.jpg

 

Open:

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9597.jpg

 

The padpad came fitted with the standard issue 2 tone EF nib that Gem likes to use. When set up properly, the nib is a delightful true EF writer, however EF is not my size at all usually( unless it is a Pilot), I like M or fatter and one has to make do with what one has on hand, I had only M nibs in GT so I fitted my own nib to the pen and tuned it.

 

For some practical reason, they decided to very deeply set the huge 35mm nib thus somewhat negating (IMHO, YMMV) the advantage afforded by the bigger nib. As shown in the following picture, a standard and cheaper Indian no 8 nib (28mm) could have done the job sufficiently well on the Padpad.

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9598.jpg

 

I guess the reason they did this was primarily due to the washer clip, where they wanted the washer's edges displayed for cosmetic effect. The washer has too small an ID to allow the nib to pass through it. Hence, a longer exposed length of the nib would have meant a longer length of the cap, so they arrived at this deep set nib design to achieve a nice balance.

 

I have nothing much to comment about the writing aspect as the aftermarket nib in the pen was installed and set up by me, to my preference.

 

The padpad is a good sized pen:

 

capped: 147mm

open: 131mm including the nib

posted: 168mm

Cap diameter, max: 15mm

Barrel diameter, max: 14mm

Section diameter: 12mm, tapers to 11mm and then flares.

 

A comparison of the padpad with some other pens at hand:

 

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/GamaPadPad/IMG_9600.jpg

 

L-R: Early 14C nib M800, Padpad, Kuyil, GT Supreme FT.

 

Cheers!

Hari

In the picture of the several nibs, mine came with the second from the far right and doesn't seem pushed in too far.

[hari317]

In the picture of the several nibs, mine came with the second from the far right and doesn't seem pushed in too far.

Quantitatively, if the visible length of the nib is 24mm, then it is correctly installed. HTH.

[hari317]

Thanks for the review. I'm getting sorely tempted to get an Indian made pen. Seems like that there a new models coming out at a regular basis.

 

I also like the fact that as well as 'lively' colours, they also have sober black pens.

Yes, the pen maker has found renewed encouragement, thanks to appreciation from the worldwide FP community.

[notimetoulouse]

As an update - the post has just arrived bringing my new Gama Raja and Gama Hawk from Sh. Subramaniam Ji of ASApens, and four gifted Indian pens from Anup Ji (a very very generous gesture on his part).

The Gama pens are very very classy indeed, and both dipped nibs write superbly straight out of the box.

I will admit to being a little unsure about the Bakul finish on the Raja (all my other pens are glossy finished), but I needn't have worried - the textured matte finish gives it a very gratifying look, especially with the gold cap rings and filials.

The Hawk is superglossy, supercomfy to use, and also a classy writer. They have been out of the packaging less than ten minutes and already I have grin from ear to ear.

I have lots to do for the next few days, but I hope to get some photo's and my first pen reviews up some time over the coming weekend.

 

If anyone is thinking of ordering an ebonite from ASApens (and for pens of this class and for this cost, they are stunning), mine were posted from India on the evening of the 27th March, and arrived safely and well packed this morning, the 3rd of April, which is faster than anything I've ever ordered from the States.

 

I'm so glad that ASApens have taken off here on FPN - when I first went to the site at the end of last year, they were exporting pens to five countries - now the list of countries runs down the page. And I've just noticed that the ASApens site is down for maintenance, which could mean....

More are being listed?

Anyhoo, must go, Indian pens to ink up!

[hari317]

As an update - the post has just arrived bringing my new Gama Raja and Gama Hawk from Sh. Subramaniam Ji of ASApens, and four gifted Indian pens from Anup Ji (a very very generous gesture on his part).

The Gama pens are very very classy indeed, and both dipped nibs write superbly straight out of the box.

I will admit to being a little unsure about the Bakul finish on the Raja (all my other pens are glossy finished), but I needn't have worried - the textured matte finish gives it a very gratifying look, especially with the gold cap rings and filials.

The Hawk is superglossy, supercomfy to use, and also a classy writer. They have been out of the packaging less than ten minutes and already I have grin from ear to ear.

I have lots to do for the next few days, but I hope to get some photo's and my first pen reviews up some time over the coming weekend.

 

If anyone is thinking of ordering an ebonite from ASApens (and for pens of this class and for this cost, they are stunning), mine were posted from India on the evening of the 27th March, and arrived safely and well packed this morning, the 3rd of April, which is faster than anything I've ever ordered from the States.

 

I'm so glad that ASApens have taken off here on FPN - when I first went to the site at the end of last year, they were exporting pens to five countries - now the list of countries runs down the page. And I've just noticed that the ASApens site is down for maintenance, which could mean....

More are being listed?

Anyhoo, must go, Indian pens to ink up!

nice to hear of your positive experience with the vendor. My transactions with them have been similarly flawless so far.

[a_m]

If anyone is thinking of ordering an ebonite from ASApens (and for pens of this class and for this cost, they are stunning), mine were posted from India on the evening of the 27th March, and arrived safely and well packed this morning, the 3rd of April, which is faster than anything I've ever ordered from the States.

 

It takes more time than this to arrive at my place !