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Wing Sung Sheaffer Clone


OldGriz

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There was a recent thread discussing this pen.... for the whopping price of $10.00 delivered I thought I would give it a try. I am pleasantly surprised. The pen is not be the same model that Richard Binder tested. I believe it is the cheaper less spoken about sibling of the pen that Richard reviewed. All review topics are based on the price point, I am not trying to compare this to my real Sheaffer pens.

 

Appearance 4/5

An inexpensive thin gold covered metal pen... but attractively engraved in a checkerboard pattern. The cap has three clutch fingers that grip the section and hold it on securely. The clip is marked Wing Sung and at the base of the clip are some Chinese characters and the number 235, which is probably the model.

 

Filling 5/5

Pen has a Parker style aerometric filler.... the aero cover is a loose fit and can be pulled off quite easily, but, I have seen this same filler on most Chinese clones and they do work well and hold a fair amount of ink.

 

Feel 3/5

Extremely light in the hand... has an almost cheap lightness. But then again it is a thin metal bodied pen and most of this type from China have that feel. It is nicely shaped and comfortable to hold and write with.. The section is smooth black plastic leading up to the Triumph style nib.

 

Performance 4/5

This is where I was pleasantly surprised.... although a bit on the toothy side the nib performed flawlessly from the get go. I guess if I give it the paper bag treatment it might smooth out more, but it is not all that bad... better than I have seen on a lot of Chinese pens sold at higher prices. Since I received a new bottle of ink today, why not fill it with that... I filled the pen with Noodlers Boston Brahman Blue... a real sweet color and it appears to be an extremely saturated ink. The pen wrote sweetly from the first stroke and has continued to write nice for over a page and a half of scribbling. I laid it down for an hour and it started right up again. I would classify the nib as an American fine and a damp writer with this ink. Since this ink appears to be highly saturated, I would think a less saturated ink would write a wetter line.... I might try this pen with some Pelikan Brown or Black....

 

Overall score: 16/20

I have to honestly say that for a $10.00 investment, you can get a pretty good writing pen from Wing Sung. From a distance it looks expensive. When you put it to paper it writes nicely. What more could you ask for at this price.

Is it a Sheaffer, NO and it is not supposed to be. Does it write like my Sheaffers, NO and I did not expect it to. But it is a nice pen.

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  • OldGriz

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  • meanwhile

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  • Oxonian

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Guest JohanO

Nice review Tom, and nice pic, as usual.

 

I have used the WS 235 for a time and it was a great writer! Great inkflow and great filling system. The body is scratch free!

 

But, you overpaid; these pens can be had for $5 :(

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Well, on the one hand I wanted to be the person to write the review for this pen...

 

On the other, now I know I'm not going to be lynched by a mob of FPNers angry that I got them to throw away their $8.

 

A very nice review, Tom.

 

Btw - willingness to go on writing after long periods without use or of being uncapped seems to be a feature of Chinese pens - I hear it over and over again.

Edited by meanwhile

- Jonathan

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I had a Wing Sung, sold it towards the end of my first DC show (just one of the mob then). I should know who I sold it to, but don't remember....

 

ANYWAY, it was a very nice pen, decently made, with an aero filler system. I don't know that it had been filled before I bought it.

 

After I bought the pen at an antique show I took it in to show to my boss, who had been a missionary in China after WWII. (got out just ahead of the communist forces). I asked him what the Chinese characters said. I got this level gaze for a moment, and he said "Wing Sung." :doh:

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And for anyone that's interested, Wing Sung can be loosely translated to mean "eternal" or "eternal life".

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I ordered a couple of these as well; I got one like OldGriz, and one with a greenish plastic body.

 

My experience is that same as his, with additional data: the plastic version actually feels like a higher quality product and looks a lot better! It's slighly heavier, the cap is thicker metal, it has an ink level window, and the nib is two-tone. Same price!

-=[ Grant ]=-

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I ordered a couple of these as well; I got one like OldGriz, and one with a greenish plastic body.

 

My experience is that same as his, with additional data: the plastic version actually feels like a higher quality product and looks a lot better! It's slighly heavier, the cap is thicker metal, it has an ink level window, and the nib is two-tone. Same price!

Looks like I am going to have to buy a second one... :doh: :doh:

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Thanks for the review Tom!

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8, NKJV)
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Very interesting Tom. Thanks for the review. I like my Sheaffer Triumph nibs a lot, but I think there's room for a $10 conversation piece, and it sounds like it works just fine.

 

btw I have a Wing Sung Parker 51 clone too. Attack of the clones! :o

How can you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

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My Wing Sung came in today. I got the 233 in black plastic with a gold cap, two tone nib, and amber ink vue window. It writes rather well in my opinion, and even has a bit of flex to it! My quips are with fit and finish. While the barrel/section threads are great, there is a lip stepping out to the barrel. Also, the metal washer used to click stop the section in the inner cap seems to be too far forward, and I have about 1/8" play. I'm not sure if this is going to affeect the seal or not. Other than that though...great little pen!

"The older I get, the more I realize I'm getting older".

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Nice review,but i think the wingsung 103 and 104 will be more excellence,it come with 12k nib just $15 and $20

 

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7828/img31325mo.jpg

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/6920/img31344bh.jpg

 

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/1057/wingsung10418dx.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/6533/wingsung10428uf.jpg

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/7489/wingsung10432dq.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=12903

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HI there,

I don't own one of these Wing-Sung pens but I do have one of their nibs, on a 1948 Ratnam eye dropper pen, so if anyone is worried about how well the nibs last, they last as well as the Sheaffer's that were made on the machines before the Shanghai factory was nationalised.My Ratnam still writes with a smooth and generous line with no scratching or missing, it is a shame that the rest of the metal work isn't as good as the nib

Cheers, Oxonian

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Well, I have my pen - LaPlume's shipping to the UK was very fast.

 

It's no threat to my Balance XF nib, or my 9550 Estie - mostly because its not as wet. But it is a very smooth nib and starts without hesitation. Ergonomically, the pen is excellent - the nib is flush with the tapering barrel making the whole pen feels like an extension of my finger - exactly the trick the Namiki Murex is said to perform.

 

I've found that the pens fineness, accuracy, and slight dryness make it an ideal pen for annotaing and underlining in books.

 

But if you look at the nib from head on, VERY closely, there's what looks to me like a BIG surprise... A tiny round "belly button" - a hole that to me seems to be exactly where you'd want the hole for a snorkel to be, plugged by a piece of plastic that could easily be puncheded out.

 

Could this be evidence that the Chinese do , or have made snorkels?

- Jonathan

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