Lucky / Wing Sung 659 - A Pilot 78G Clone Arises!

[arcadeflow]

I've seen this on Facebook and then went here to find out if you guys knew about this. Take a look: http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-Lot-of-7-Wing-Sung-659-Fountain-Pens-Each-Pen-Has-2-Nibs-Plastic-Box-/231809151524?hash=item35f8e6f224:g:DgwAAOSw5IJWgUVt

 

I found it amusing because the Hero company is bringing back the branding of pens that are said to be "vintage" or no longer produced. This one has Lucky stamped on the clip and supposedly the Wing Sung branding on the cap and box. They even put a Custom style gold ring at the section, and the converter seems to use a similar design (CON-50, maybe compatible?) to Pilot, just as Jinhao did with the Lamy converter.

 

The price is basically the same of the 78G. And the body is so similar. Over the years I've seen people spreading rumours that maybe these pens were not made in Japan, only the nibs were. Maybe Pilot discontinued them like some people usually claim, and Hero owning the factory molds kept production? The nibs are very similar too, but I guess they are not as good as Pilot's own.

Edited January 23, 2016 by arcadeflow

[Flounder]

Yep, AndWhoDisguisedAs flagged them up recently (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/302911-hero-wing-sung-659-questions-baoer-hero-suggestions-too/)

 

I didn't see the point in buying a clone of the regular range, but have ordered the steel demo. Should be interesting!

 

If you're reading this Hero, you awful copycats, how about a parker 51 ballpoint clone. Your caps & arrow clips are already good enough, tack them onto a barrel!

 

Actually scratch that, it would be nice if Parker themselves came out with a special edition ballpoint along those lines.

[dcwaites]

Yep, AndWhoDisguisedAs flagged them up recently (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/302911-hero-wing-sung-659-questions-baoer-hero-suggestions-too/)

 

I didn't see the point in buying a clone of the regular range, but have ordered the steel demo. Should be interesting!

 

If you're reading this Hero, you awful copycats, how about a parker 51 ballpoint clone. Your caps & arrow clips are already good enough, tack them onto a barrel!

 

Actually scratch that, it would be nice if Parker themselves came out with a special edition ballpoint along those lines.

 

PIlot has stopped making the 78G, and I think I read somewhere that Hero/Wing Sung bought the machinery to make them.

 

Personally, I would like to see Parker bring out a clone of this pen --

 

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1736648496_5/Jinhao-Snake-Fountain-Pen-Vintage-Style-Pen-Silver-Black-Cobra-3D-Pattern.jpg

[k3eax]

Mine arrived yesterday and I found it indistinguishable from the Pilot G78, right down to the Pilot-like converter. In fact, the purchase of the Wing Sung 659 might just be a cost-effective way to obtain a converter for your Pilot/Namiki.

[rockydoggy]

It looks like they're selling some real 78G's @ 18.00 each.

(Are the Pilot 78G's really out of production? If so, I wonder if Pilot felt that the Metropolitan line better fills that slot in their line.)

 

This vendor also has nibs for their Safari clones that might fit Safari's.

[k3eax]

Mine arrived yesterday and I found it indistinguishable from the Pilot G78, right down to the Pilot-like converter. In fact, the purchase of the Wing Sung 659 might just be a cost-effective way to obtain a converter for your Pilot/Namiki.

The vendor, jewelrymathematics, seems accept

offering bids of $8, down $1 from his buy-it-now price of $9.

Edited February 10, 2016 by k3eax

[k3eax]

The vendor, jewelrymathematics, seems accept

offering bids of $8, down $1 from his buy-it-now price of $9.

Edited February 10, 2016 by k3eax

[Flounder]

Mine arrived yesterday and I found it indistinguishable from the Pilot G78, right down to the Pilot-like converter. In fact, the purchase of the Wing Sung 659 might just be a cost-effective way to obtain a converter for your Pilot/Namiki.

 

I did find a few differences, check the other thread.

[Seele]

Sorry for coming in late.

 

Not that long ago Hero had re-launched a couple of Golden Star Beijing models, as GS had since ceased trading; I would not be at all surprised that Hero bought the toolings for them, made some appropriate changed (like changing the GS branding to Hero) and carried on with their production.

 

In view of this I would not be at all surprised if Hero re-launched the Wing Sung brand. In a sense Hero was like what used to be the Rover Group/BL Ltd: due to counteless rounds of mergers they ended up owning a whole catalogue of heritage brands, so it's a good thing for them to launch new collections under different brands.

 

One thing worthy of note: the company name 永生 has its official romanized name as Wing Sung. For a little while now there are pens bearing the logo and Chinese name but instead romanized as Yongsheng, a romanization using the Pinyin system. During a recent trip to Southern China I saw some at a shop; the workmanship is definitely less satisfactory, even though the words on the box claimed that they were Hero products. Due to the wrong romanization, I have concluded that these were totally fraudulent, made by people who did not even know the firm's correct name; in fact there have been words that a few shady characters produced them somewhere in China.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

It looks like they're selling some real 78G's @ 18.00 each.

 

Cue my spit-take: Phhhtooie !

 

Wow, I'm glad I've never ended up buying a Pilot 78G for $18. I know that a certain U.S. vendor has been selling them for $25 each, but that was just totally nuts and he sells everything for a high price. I recently bought a Pilot 78G in black, I'd had red and green ones but no black 78Gs, and I was on what could be seen as a black pen kick at the end of last year. Now that I see the prices and the fact that Pilot is dropping the 78G line I'm glad that I popped for that pen.

 

Are the Pilot 78G's really out of production? If so, I wonder if Pilot felt that the Metropolitan line better fills that slot in their line.

 

I can see the logic behind Pilot going with only the Metropolitan. It has the same nib and feed, but it feels better in my hand. I've just started to try out a Metropolitan as of yesterday. So far I'm liking it.

[Berghain54]

Hej,

 

the "Wing Sung 659" is a good pen - you definately get what you pay for, if not even more.

I only wrote like two pages with it (with the F nib, the EF nib was a bit too fine for me, but it's nice to have it for free, even if it doesnt fit in other pens because of its bending).

 

I can imagine, that it is very good for longer writing seesions, because it is very light and the cap fits good on the pen without falling of.

 

What i cannot recommend is converting it to an eyedropper, which seems to be a common thing with the Pilot 78G - the 659 just drops ink spots out of the pen even like after the first word and without having the barrel "heated" up while writing due to the wamrth of the hands.

 

What i discovered while cleaning it was, that the feed is not molded very good - it has some air bubbles, and in fact one of those got filled with ink in my pen:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8eXZIZk82YnlzZFE/view?usp=sharing

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8QTBSbzU0Ukl1dlk/view?usp=sharing

 

But definitely a nice "use and loose" pen for €7-9 (i know that's no argument, because nobody ever looses fountain pens - but it's definitely worth the price).

 

 

Best regards

Edited February 21, 2016 by Berghain54

[k3eax]

Sadly,I must report that the cap's gold bands are flaking-off.

 

Something else to share, the eBay vendor, jewelrymathematics, countered my offer of $5 with his acceptable price of $8. And so, I was able to purchase the pen for $1 less than the posted price of $9.

Edited February 20, 2016 by k3eax

[dcwaites]

Hej,

...

 

What i cannot recommend is converting it to an eyedropper, which seems to be a common thing with the Pilot 78G - the 659 just drops ink spots out of the pen even like after the first word and without having the barrel "heated" up while writing due to the wamrth of the hands.

 

...

 

The barrel of the 659 has some tiny venting holes at the very tip which are absent in the 78G. Unless you have sealed those, then yes, it will drip.