Help
Regular visitors to and readers of this forum would have seen 3 earlier posts on Chelpark FP models (Moti, Antic, and Maverick) by Hari. This post is a kind of sequel to these posts.
That Chelpark manufactured FP inks is a commonly known fact among FP users in India, but until Hari put up the review on Chelpark Moti and went on to post reviews of Chelpark Maverick and Chelpark Antic FPs, I didn’t know that the Chelpark Company manufactured FPs too.
I had visited Malappuram Town in Kerala a couple of weeks back… I was there to conduct a workshop for high school teacher trainees (I have said this already elsewhere on FPN...sorry for repeating)…Malappuram is a small, but growing town…unhurried pace…greenery all around and quite peaceful… I was pleasantly surprised, when I found Chelpark FPs there…in fact, four FPs…because Malappuram didn’t look like a place where I’d find fountain pens…but you can’t say with surprises…
The ones that I found were inexpensive plastic FPs and are like the poor cousins of the ‘Hari Chelparks’ (!!!) both in terms of looks and cost…each pen costing less than half a dollar…but what amused me was the heavy duty double barrelled names that 3 of these pens carried… Top Gun, Brigadier, Terminator … and Maestro…
As you can see in photo 1, from top to bottom, we have Maestro, Top Gun, Brigadier, and Terminator…here is a brief review of each pen…
Maestro: ED filler; Screw cap; 5 inches capped; 4 ¾ inches uncapped; 5 ¼ inches posted; a steel nib and feeder with side fins; it has a flat top and bottom; a steel clip tapering down to form a rhomboid shape with ‘Chelpark’ engraved on it and the clip ring is kind of embedded in the cap top; it has a steel cap band at the cap lip with MESTRO engraved on it, whereas in the other pens, the model name is printed in white paint on the barrel.
Top Gun: ED filler; Screw cap; 5 ¼ inches capped; 4 ¾ inches uncapped; 5 ¾ inches posted; it has a two tone nib and feeder with side fins; a flat top and a rounded end; it also has a transparent ink window; a gold coloured clip with ‘Chelpark’ engraved on it and cap band at cap lip; the model name TOP GUN is printed in white paint on the barrel.
Brigadier: ED filler; Snap cap; 5 ½ inches capped; 4 ¾ inches uncapped; slightly more than 5 ¾ inches posted; it has a rounded top and end; it has a steel coloured plastic clip again with ‘Chelpark’ on it; in fact the entire cap module is in plastic; no cap bands, but a steel band just above the threads on the section, a wee bit of which is visible when pen is capped; a gold coloured nib with a vertical ridge in section also with side fins. ‘BRIGADIER’ is printed in white paint on the barrel.
Terminator: the thinnest of the four and also the most basic and looks like a ball pen at first sight; except the nib, the pen has no other metal parts; ED filler; Snap cap; 5 ¼ inches capped; slightly more than 4 ¾ inches uncapped; 6 inches posted; flat top and end; clip is integrated with the cap; here, ‘Chelpark’ is engraved on the plastic cap, and not on the clip like the preceding three FPs; gold coloured nib with a vertical ridge in section along with side fins; TERMINATOR is printed in white paint on the barrel.
I dip tested all the pens and you can also see a collective writing sample photograph below. The nib of the ‘Brigadier’ is slightly rough, but the other nibs are smoother and since this was only a dip test, I couldn’t feel a wet line while writing. Here are the photos…
MAESTRO engraved on the cap band
Close up of caps with ‘chelpark’ on them
All 4 posted
Close up of sections
Close up of nibs. All nibs have ‘Chelpark’ and ‘C’ engraved on them.
Close up of feeders
Writing sample along side the nibs
A photo of all the 7 Chelparks so far identified. From left to right – Antic, Maverick, Moti, Top Gun, Maestro, Brigadier, and Terminator. Thanks Hari, for remembering me while buying ‘your’ Chelparks. I have remembered you as well while buying ‘my’ Chelparks!!
(Those of you who are interested in knowing more about Chelpark’s history can go back to the Chelpark Moti post and proceed to the link given by Hari)
As I have said before, I have never seen Chelpark FPs in Hyderabad and I discovered that the Chelpark Terminator is a common enough FP in and around the Malappuram Town. I found the Terminator in at least 3 shops there. There is nothing spectacular about these pens, and I don’t know how often I’d be using them, but it looks nice to see all Chelparks in one place. Cataloguing these pens in FPN is itself a small pleasure.
I also found a long sought after pen in Malappuram, the Camlin Trinity, which I think deserves a separate post.
So much for the present…hope you liked the pictures of the Chelpark FPs…comments are welcome…
Jayasrinivasa Rao (shrujaya)
"Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it." ~David Hare
