Wing Sung 626 Review

[taike]

Part of the pleasure of vintage pens is thinking about what it was like to experience the the golden age of fountain pens. The drawback is it’s an impossible task.

That’s what makes the Wing Sung 626 interesting. Squint your eyes and you can imagine that you have your hands on a brand new Sheaffer Balance, circa 1929. Or at least a facsimile of the Balance revival series Sheaffer offered 1997- 2003.

That’s what I tell myself.

My experience with this pen has been been positive.

The acrylic is fantastic. Construction, fit and finish on the one I got is top-notch.

It is a wonder to hold and write with. Long writing sessions are a pleasure.

The nib is smooth and generously wet. It performed flawlessly out of the box with no tuning required. The sweet spot is large and easy to master. The pen is an intuitive and rewarding writer.

An easy 10 pages on a fill

That said, the Wing Sung 626 is a pen that fits a role. It's not perfect.

• The nib does tend do dry out, causing hard starts if the pen has been uncapped for an extended period. The phenomenon is ink dependent. Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa (an iron gall ink) made things worse. Diamine Majestic Blue minimized the problem. Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue was somewhere in between.

• The cap takes something under two full turns to remove. That makes the pen less than ideal for jotting incremental notes, in meetings for example. This pen is best suited for dedicated writing.

• The nib is on the delicate side. Too much pressure and it will bend. Reasonable care is in order.

• The nib is also a proprietary size. It's smaller than a standard No. 6 but larger than a No. 5. Nib swapping doesn't appear to be in the cards at this time. There is a gold nib version available but it's quite a bit dearer. The nib is only available in fine width (0.5mm).

 

The Wing Sung 626 fits admirably among my current writers. I'm still in the thrall of my Aurora 88, but the smaller size and lighter weight of the 626 make it a close competitor. Plus I love looking at it in my hand.

 

Left to right: Lamy 2000, Aurora 88, Wing Sung 626, PenBBS 308

At under US$18 from Taobao, the Wing Sung 626 is easily accessible, though it is edging toward the higher end of the new crop of Chinese pens.

However, I wouldn't recommend this pen to a complete newbie. There's a risk they'd throw up their hands in frustration the first time it didn't write directly after sitting open for 15 minutes. Then there’s the chance they’d spring the nib.

But for someone who's been in the hobby a bit, the Wing Sung 626 can be something of a revelation. It really is possible to close your eyes and imagine you're back in time.

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm a sucker for the historic connection.

 

More photos and comments here.

 

 

 

 

[jmccarty3]

I have heard good things about the gold nib. Anyone have any experience with it?

[ErrantSmudge]

My experience with this pen has been very unsatisfying. The quality control is very uneven.

 

The threads on the cap/barrel are sticky, the nib is dry writer. But the biggest problem is with the converter. Out of the box, bubbles appeared in the converter during filling. Then, it began leaking ink at the point where the converter meets the section. After a week or so, the leak developed to the point it could no longer pull ink from the bottle.

 

Even if the converter had not developed the air leak, the fit and finish on my sample doesn't compare to other pens in its price range such as the TWSBI Eco, Lamy Safari, or Pilot Metro making it a poor value in comparison. That said, if you luck out in the QC lottery, this can be a cool pen to own.

Edited August 9, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[J_MM]

I like mine but occasionally have hard starts. I have only tried one ink though. The nib on mine is soft and bouncy which I like.

[steve50]

My experience with this pen has been very unsatisfying. The quality control is very uneven.

 

The threads on the cap/barrel are sticky, the nib is dry writer. But the biggest problem is with the converter. Out of the box, bubbles appeared in the converter during filling. Then, it began leaking ink at the point where the converter meets the section. After a week or so, the leak developed to the point it could no longer pull ink from the bottle.

 

Even if the converter had not developed the air leak, the fit and finish on my sample doesn't compare to other pens in its price range such as the TWSBI Eco, Lamy Safari, or Pilot Metro making it a poor value in comparison. That said, if you luck out in the QC lottery, this can be a cool pen to own.

 

It's interesting that Wing Sung 601 doesn't seem to suffer from quality control issues, despite having a more complicated mechanism. I gave one to my partner and she's loving it & no issues whatsoever. Wing Sung 626 is a basic pen apart from the interesting material. What's the reason? Are they made by different factories and just branded Wing Sung? If they can pull off piston fillers, vac fillers, and draw fillers, I find it incredible that they yet fail to make converters that fit?!

Edited August 9, 2018 by steve50

[Honeybadgers]

That pen ain't acrylic. It's gen-you-whine celluloid.

 

I was one of the lucky few to get it in green with the white dot. It's a damn good pen, the only part I dislike is knowing that the nib is made from such bad metal that it bends. It's not a problem, but it's there. The rest of the pen has been perfect for me.

[taike]

That pen ain't acrylic. It's gen-you-whine celluloid.

 

I was one of the lucky few to get it in green with the white dot. It's a damn good pen, the only part I dislike is knowing that the nib is made from such bad metal that it bends. It's not a problem, but it's there. The rest of the pen has been perfect for me.

 

It may be that the nib and feed on the new 627 will fit.

 

 

The review from Objectos de Escrita shows them to be the same size, though he doesn't mentioned thickness which may be an issue. The new nibs come in EF and M and F.

[Honeybadgers]

The nib design is identical but the sad part is it's not two tone and the heart breather isn't punched.

Aesthetically the nib is a damned home run.

[woleizihan]

I have all four colors and I can say I like them all. Avoid the white celluloid if you don't like stained sections. The pen is beautifully made with great attention to detail and very very good build quality. The threads seem to be a little sticky/tight on the pens and Wing Sung adapted the Platinum style converter, which is far from the best converter. None of that bothers me.

 

The best part, go get a Sheaffer OS Balance nib and put it in there. The single tone gold nib matches the trims perfectly and gives a whole pen very attractive vintage taste. You'll get probably the best fantasy Sheaffer Balance. I like it much more than the Balance II from Sheaffer themselves.

[sansenri]

I have been curious, how do you get safely through the Chinese purchasing instructions in Taobao?

 

I do hold an Amber glow for comparison... (although I would have liked a Pistachio green LE...)

[taike]

I have been curious, how do you get safely through the Chinese purchasing instructions in Taobao?

 

I do hold an Amber glow for comparison... (although I would have liked a Pistachio green LE...)

 

 

 

Nice. I'm curious if Wing Sung intends to release more materials.

 

Taobao does take some practice. For me, it starts with Google translate (or equivalent) and a willingness to experiment/tolerate uncertainty. Getting Alipay connected to release payment once things are delivered was/is particularly challenging.

 

But after a few go-rounds, it makes increasing sense. Plus the site is evolving and is working at simplifying navigation.

 

I've used the chat feature with some vendors and they are also generally keen to help.

[Mary P]

 

It's interesting that Wing Sung 601 doesn't seem to suffer from quality control issues, despite having a more complicated mechanism. I gave one to my partner and she's loving it & no issues whatsoever. Wing Sung 626 is a basic pen apart from the interesting material. What's the reason? Are they made by different factories and just branded Wing Sung? If they can pull off piston fillers, vac fillers, and draw fillers, I find it incredible that they yet fail to make converters that fit?!

Is there another converter out there that fits this pen? I just received mine. It came with two converters one of which is broken. The other doesn't seal as well as it should.

[taike]

Is there another converter out there that fits this pen? I just received mine. It came with two converters one of which is broken. The other doesn't seal as well as it should.

 

I do see that the Taobao 626 seller has converters listed as compatible. Their info says 626 uses the 3.2mm version (2nd from top).

 

 

But I'd get back to your original seller. I'd think they'd be interested in making things right.

 

All roads lead back to Green Stationery who are behind the pen. I would guess any 626 seller would know how to get to them directly to help resolve the issue if that's needed.

[Honeybadgers]

Is there another converter out there that fits this pen? I just received mine. It came with two converters one of which is broken. The other doesn't seal as well as it should.

 

 

It will take a regular parker converter. the aerometric and slide converters fit fine but the screw converter is about 1mm too long (so if you're willing to sand 1mm off the tail of the screw converter it'll fit too)

[Driften]

The dealer listed now shows the pen with a 0.7mm nib as available. I looked around eBay and it seems most of the colors (0.5mm) are available for $30 shipped but Blue is out of stock in each case. The 0.7mm does not seem top be available on eBay.

[Honeybadgers]

They go in and out of stock as the celluloid becomes available. If you find a white dot model, snatch it up. The Green in particular is a stunner.

[jmccarty3]

These are available on Amazon.com with 14k nib for $105. Not sure whether that includes a converter..

[ErrantSmudge]

 

 

It will take a regular parker converter.

 

A regular Parker converter does not fit my 626.

[Driften]

They go in and out of stock as the celluloid becomes available. If you find a white dot model, snatch it up. The Green in particular is a stunner.

 

 

Okay... green with white dot on order. I don't have many green pens so it will be a nice addition.

[Erik Dalton]

Still learning everyday. Thank you for this.