Airmail 58C

[5umedh]

 

Sometimes you have some pens just because they bring on pure nostalgia. This one is one of those for me. A pen by Airmail. Rather any pen by Airmail. We, 90’s kids of India, and also the kids before, grew up using this brand during our school days at least ones.

Airmail Pen Company was established in 1951. Since then, they have been manufacturing some awesome pens, especially fountain pens. They are based in Mumbai, India. This review is about one of their offerings, Model 58C. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

First Glance

I personally don’t like huge pens. There are some exceptions of course. This, in my books, is a very big pen. But it is value for money. And when you have its value in mind, its a damn good pen. You get it in ₹180 (i.e. barely $3). I bet you wont get this quality fountain pen in a $3 pen elsewhere. You can compare it with the build quality of Noodler’s Pens.

Looks

The pen does not look that great for my taste. A very bulky but not at all a bad looking pen. How do you spot an Airmail from far is the steel band they have on the cap. It’s their trademark. Also this pen isn’t something you can flaunt in your shirt pocket. It is too huge for that.

Finial and End-Cap

The finial and end cap have a reflective, pointed dome made of steel which looks nothing but simple.

 

The Clip is pretty tight but certainly useful with any type of shirt pocket. Simple steel clip.

 

 

The Cap is Screw Fit & works great. The threads are all plastic as the pen is. Threads are not sharp at all. The only flaw (I would say) is the threads have 3 openings. This keeps the capped pens clip from aligning itself from the Airmail logo on the barrel. Small thing it is. And also something that you would not expect from a cheap pen.

Filling Mechanism

This is a eye dropper pen where you have to fill the ink directly into the barrel by using an eye-dropper or a syringe. The ink it should take is about (at least) two times of what a standard long ink cartridge can hold, though I have not measured it.

Writing Experience

I bought a Fine since it was the only nib option available with the retailer. I worked a bit on smoothing of the nib. There were very few fine nibs I have liked out of the box like my Lamy Safari’s. This nib was a bit scratchy for me. Now it has become somewhere between fine and medium since I worked on it.

 

 

Posting

Posting makes this pen top heavy. And it makes it so long that I could practically scratch my nose while writing

 

General Info & Measurements

Locking Mechanism: Screw fit
Filling Mechanism: Eye dropper
Posted: 17.4 cm
Capped: 15 cm
Uncapped: 13.2 cm

My Ratings (after I worked on the nib)

Nib: 6/10
Looks: 6/10
Pocket Looks: 1/10
Writing Experience: 6/10
Wetness: 2/10
Scratchiness: 3/10
Cost: 10/10
Line Variation: 7/10
Reverse Writing: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Disclaimer: This review is all about my personal views about a product especially the one I have used (for this review). You may come across a same model which you might find better or worse.

 

Do let me know how you like the review.
Follow my blog: https://pen5um.wordpress.com

Thanks,

5umedh

Edited July 25, 2017 by 5umedh

[KellyMcJ]

That's a neat looking pen! How is the ink flow?

[samir]

Hi, this is a nice pen. If you don't mind, can you please tell me where did you purchase this pen? ASA don't have this model

Thank you

[5umedh]

That's a neat looking pen! How is the ink flow?

Ahh... the ink flow is neat. It was a bit on a drier side as it has a fine nib. But I worked on it a bit to make it wetter.

[5umedh]

Hi, this is a nice pen. If you don't mind, can you please tell me where did you purchase this pen? ASA don't have this model

Thank you

I got it from a retailer near me called Venus Traders . I live in Pune, Maharashtra.

 

But here is the online shopping link: (currently out of stock)

https://pensindia.com/collections/fountain-pens/airmail?page=1

 

Thanks.

[samir]

thank you very much for the information.

 

shall check pensindia.

[mehandiratta]

lovely detailed review...

[5umedh]

lovely detailed review...

Thanks buddy!

[Mech-for-i]

Oh this bring back memory, I used to had an Airmail in my high school days, but it got lost some time in and among .. Reminds me though, might be its time for me to get another one

[bobje]

Your review made me realize that this was an Indian standard in school supplies in the 1990s. Interesting! But, not any longer?

 

These pens are a great value with reliable craftmanship, and your blue material is handsome. I haven't been able to smooth out the stock nib, so I usually swap it for something else. The proportions fit my hand well, and fit and finish are very consistent.

[prashant.tikekar]

This was my everyday pen in school with camel and chelpark inks. I had these in almost every available colour. My most favorite colour is black- amber marbled. Recently I had one inked (Nib & feed from Parker Beta) with Pilot Blue.

 

[5umedh]

Your review made me realize that this was an Indian standard in school supplies in the 1990s. Interesting! But, not any longer?

 

These pens are a great value with reliable craftmanship, and your blue material is handsome. I haven't been able to smooth out the stock nib, so I usually swap it for something else. The proportions fit my hand well, and fit and finish are very consistent.

Not any longer, sadly most of the students want to use ball point pens these days.

[5umedh]

This was my everyday pen in school with camel and chelpark inks. I had these in almost every available colour. My most favorite colour is black- amber marbled. Recently I had one inked (Nib & feed from Parker Beta) with Pilot Blue.

 

Yeahh... chelpark and camlin and sometimes local Kale pens. Seems you are from Pune too.

[5umedh]

Oh this bring back memory, I used to had an Airmail in my high school days, but it got lost some time in and among .. Reminds me though, might be its time for me to get another one

You surely should.

[prashant.tikekar]

Yeahh... chelpark and camlin and sometimes local Kale pens. Seems you are from Pune too.

Yes. Now in Pune, but was in Ratnagiri in school days. My father's friend used to get the airmail pens for me from Pune.

[Avishek]

On 8/3/2017 at 11:45 AM, prashant.tikekar said:

This was my everyday pen in school with camel and chelpark inks. I had these in almost every available colour. My most favorite colour is black- amber marbled. Recently I had one inked (Nib & feed from Parker Beta) with Pilot Blue.

 

How did you do that ? Does the nib and feed from parker beta gets friction fitted in the section of Airmail 58c or some other modifications has to be done?