Hongdian WA351

[Dan Carmell]

8 minutes ago, mke said:

Link please, thank you.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ms4F8qB

[mke]

Thank you Dan.

 

This pen is "too expensive" - comparing to the very similar Hongdian 6016 which I bought for 70% less. 

All sellers offer this new pen for about the same price. Hongdian set a MFSP? (maker fixed selling price)

They need to offer better prices to make me buy the blue and the red.

 

By the way, to find this pen you need to search for HONGDIAN WA351. It is mixed with that pen.

[garyc]

On 11/15/2024 at 6:07 AM, mke said:

Thank you Dan.

 

This pen is "too expensive" - comparing to the very similar Hongdian 6016 which I bought for 70% less. 

All sellers offer this new pen for about the same price. Hongdian set a MFSP? (maker fixed selling price)

They need to offer better prices to make me buy the blue and the red.

 

By the way, to find this pen you need to search for HONGDIAN WA351. It is mixed with that pen.

Agree with you all the way here - I quite liked the look of the blue pen until I saw the price. It’s almost 3x the price of the 6016 for no apparent reason, other than some different markings in the metalwork.

[Dan Carmell]

3 hours ago, garyc said:

Agree with you all the way here - I quite liked the look of the blue pen until I saw the price. It’s almost 3x the price of the 6016 for no apparent reason, other than some different markings in the metalwork.

The oddest part to me is how they diminish the value of the WA351 by offering these less complex pens at the same price point—and with the same model number! 
 

Coincidentally, I received the original WA35 in the mail today. It’s quite well made and I’m going to ink it today to check out Hongdian’s claims about improvements to nib and feed. To wit: “Hongdian's fourth-generation blade polishing makes it more mature and meticulous to adjust the shape of idium (sic) particles and the curvature of the contact surface more smoothly. Following the classic B2 high-efficiency pen tongue, on the basis of multi-slot ink supply, we have added an additional millimeter-level micropores, and the ink only needs to be immersed in the middle hole to be inked!”

 

Edit: the clip is a weak spot, surprisingly. I found it flexed out too easily and didn’t rebound fully, which suggests the alloy used for this clip doesn’t have the strength or ‘flex memory’ to act as a clip. I tested a range of past Hongdian clips on their high-end pens with very different results. The A7 clip, mounted in the same way, snaps back very nicely. The clip used on multiple models like the N7 and N8 is strong with good snap-back. Etc., etc. not a weak clip in the bunch—except this one. 

 

One surprise that I had missed from the photos of this pen (tho’ I see it in those photos now) is that under the metal grid of the cap is a digital camouflage field of cream and greens. 
 

Two small oddities: as the photo above shows, the model number is WA35 on its cap band. No ‘1’ is present. Unique? We will see… The other oddity is that although the theme behind the pen is a nationalist celebration of China’s aerospace and military industries, but ‘Made in China’ appears nowhere on the pen or the visible part of the nib. One turn to remove the cap, that’s nice. 
 

Update: I see that Sally at esybuy on Etsy and Amazon refers to it as the WA35, while it’s called the WA351 in all the AliExpress ads I’ve seen. Sally’s price on Etsy is $5 cheaper than the typical AliX price. 

Edited November 23, 2024 by Dan Carmell
Edited to add info re flawed clip.

[Dan Carmell]

(If subposts like this had subtitles, this one would be ‘Further dribble about the minutiae of the WA35/351’)

 

FYI 351 is confirmed as a mistake. 

 

I did ink it, it does fill through the feed with the nib only half immersed, and comparing it to my inked A9 with it’s #8 EF nib to the WA35’s #6 EF nib. The WA35 does have different feel, I’m sure of that, and it may be smoother, or it may be a different feel. Given the Visconti brown ink is thin and rather pale next to the very saturated Private Reserve dark blue (possibly DC Supershow Blue), I think the two EFs are roughly equivalent. The tipping is smaller on the WA35 nib, however so maybe that B2 feed really is all that. The dimple in the feed near the end is the intake channel when filling and if you look very carefully I think ‘LT’ is carved inside that tiny space. 
 

Last bit of trivia: the nib has a new imprint, specific to the motif of the pen itself, which I always like. But that spaceship tugged at my memory and I pulled out an A3 and there was that spaceship on the nib, but in this case it is rising to meet a flying saucer and on the WA35, it is rising to explore the solar system! 

[niuben]

On 11/23/2024 at 11:36 AM, Dan Carmell said:

(If subposts like this had subtitles, this one would be ‘Further dribble about the minutiae of the WA35/351’)

 

FYI 351 is confirmed as a mistake. 

 

I did ink it, it does fill through the feed with the nib only half immersed, and comparing it to my inked A9 with it’s #8 EF nib to the WA35’s #6 EF nib. The WA35 does have different feel, I’m sure of that, and it may be smoother, or it may be a different feel. Given the Visconti brown ink is thin and rather pale next to the very saturated Private Reserve dark blue (possibly DC Supershow Blue), I think the two EFs are roughly equivalent. The tipping is smaller on the WA35 nib, however so maybe that B2 feed really is all that. The dimple in the feed near the end is the intake channel when filling and if you look very carefully I think ‘LT’ is carved inside that tiny space. 
 

Last bit of trivia: the nib has a new imprint, specific to the motif of the pen itself, which I always like. But that spaceship tugged at my memory and I pulled out an A3 and there was that spaceship on the nib, but in this case it is rising to meet a flying saucer and on the WA35, it is rising to explore the solar system! 

thank you for sharing! For me, the pattern on the nib is a little kid-like. But it is really nice pen without doubt.

[Dan Carmell]

3 hours ago, niuben said:

thank you for sharing! For me, the pattern on the nib is a little kid-like. But it is really nice pen without doubt.

It is definitely a little kid-like! The rocket and satellite images on the barrel are more sophisticated, if rather symbolic rather than realistic, but the nib, clearly modeled on the previous #5 nib with the same spacecraft and a flying saucer, is rather cartoonish.