Group Buy - Ranga Model 8 ( Regular Ebonite & Premium Ebonite

[Helen350]

Mine arrived at the Post Office today, Will pick up as soon as the doors open Wednesday AM!! :D

[BigbyWolf]

I was out of the house on Saturday the 2nd when my pen was delivered, so it sat at the local distribution center until today (Monday being a holiday, of course). I haven't had a chance to do much more than unbox the pens and give them a quick once-over to check for anything obvious. When I have a few hours, I'll do my best to photograph them and post pictures in this thread. After that, they get flushed out with some warm water and possibly pen flush. I'll ink them up and do some writing with them after that.

I want to thank Mr. MP Kanda and Mehandiratta for arranging this group buy, and for keeping us up to date on its progress.

[strictlyobiter]

My pens arrived today They shipped around the 28th June, pretty quick I think. I haven't opened the box yet but I'll be sure to take some pics when I do. I ordered one blue/green/orange swirl and one red/black ripple.

[Helen350]

Well I arrived at the Post Office at 9:07 AM, and here is the item of my 'impatient' waiting!!! The Range Model 8 Premium Ebonite ED with a B. nib! Inked it with a bit of Private Reserve Avocado. I will be enjoying the day

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by Helen350

[RobertJWarren]

Nice picture Helen350!

[Ayami_109]

Ebonite is an irregular material. Regardless of photographs presented online, there will be inconsistencies in color and pattern. The most systematic way to get an idea of a final possible product is to examine multiple images from various FPN reviews of Ranga pens, pore through the Peyton Street Pens website, the Ranga website, look at YouTube videos, etc. It can be tedious. When we're not able to physically examine a product in person, this is the reality of online purchases.

 

I agree with Bobje. In fact I was well aware of this issue before I purchased so I spent a lot of time examining pictures from as many sources as possible. Despite extensive image examining, the pen I received was darker in colour than I expected but I wasn't surprised. It wasn't until I photographed my own pen and tried to make the colour as accurate as possible, that i really understood how near impossible it was. Even if it looked correct on my own screen, differing screen calibration would still alter the colour others would see. This is not to say photos are useless. I once purchased an ebonite pen from a well known small USA company and saw a photo of the exact pen before I paid. When it arrived the colours were exactly the same as in the photo. This is what everyone is expecting, but here it seems to be the exception. The pattern that seems to be emerging is that the ebonite colours are less vibrant and darker than they appear in photos, especially for the Indian ebonite. I suggest a disclaimer so that people know what to expect. It is also worth noting that ebonite colours can vary depending on batch.

 

Open communication and realistic expectations is the way forward. I'm not sure about changing the names if they are industry standard, but what about adding a description to accompany the name? Also state differences between the image and the actual ebonite, like how the colour isn't as vibrant as it seems, etc.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Ayami_109

[taike]

I've been enjoying this pen for a couple of weeks now. It is it smallest of the Ranga pens I've tried so far and is wonderfully agile to write with. The hourglass section is a winner in my book! For size comparison, the pen is shown with a TWSBI Micarta.

After a little smoothing, the nib writes nicely. I wasn’t able to fit a larger nib because the interior of the cap is just a little too small. But the pen does close in under two turns which was my special request! Thank you Mr. Kandan!

 

 

[sansenri]

my two Ranga model 8 arrived today.

 

after reading all the previous posts... I was wondering what colours I would get...

 

I ordered

blue-olive ripple (no. 8 of the new regular ebonite) with silver clip and Bock nib M
and

pink yellow ripple (no. 7 of the new regular ebonite) with Gold clip and JoWo Nib B

 

I knew what to expect for the pink yellow ripple, and was ready for the burgundy mustard look, which does look rather sober, but also rather elegant to me

the colour in this image is quite true to life

 

I knew my blue olive would be darker than I expected

the final result did surprise me nonetheless...

I got a very nice black brown! (what happened to the blue is beyond me )

 

I played arouund a while with the pens and inked the pink yellow ripple, which is a CC.

I love this shape! I do not have big hands so the slim barrel and especially the hourglass shaped section, and the absolutely unobtrusive threads, are really comfortable to me.

I own other Rangas, the model 3 and 3c are my best fit, the 4c is larger but still comfortable, the 5 is a fantastic show, but I can hardly use it except for signatures...

This model 8 is a really nice shape and I can see myself using it often for notetaking.

At the moment the Jowo nib is hardstarting and skipping, but being a cc directly connected to a Jowo nib, the culprit is surely the nib (no influence of the pen) it looks like it need some widening of the tines probably. Will look into that later.

 

Further intrigued by "where did the blue of my olive blue ripple go"... I took a few more photos

by overexposing the colours of the ebonite do come out a bit more

 

you can actually see some very dark blue now... but overexposure is not true to life.

 

Before purchase Mr. Kandan advised that

"The Blue/ Olive Ripple is very similar to colour #10 in the below listing
http://www.ebay.com/...FoAAOSwZSFXJjCD"

with all my goodwill the colour I got looks nowhere near colour #10 to me...

 

that said however, and given that certainly some more accurate pictures in the Ranga site would be appreciated (may I suggest a lighter and more neutral background? the dark red makes reading any colour very difficult) I must say that

1) I do understand the difficulty of making all batches of ebonite alike, this is a mosty manual process

2) I do understand the fact that the indian hand made pen industry is not going to change names to the ebonite rods just for us to be happier (very probably the process involves adding for example pink and yellow die to the rubber material which is then vulanized, the names derive from the dies used not the final outcome!) and that would be fine by me, as long as we have some well matching photos to represent the colours

3) I appreciate the imperfections as a source of diversity originating from the hand making of these unique instruments, if the ebonite pens were all alike I would be less happy

 

lastly for comparison next to a 3c in black olive ripple bakul, an absolute favourite

 

I wish to thank Ranga for the group buy and will experiment more Rangas in the future (time to try some premium ebonite?)

 

 

[oregano]

Will there be another group buy sometime soon, of this model? I'd love to join it!

[penultress]

my two Ranga model 8 arrived today.

 

after reading all the previous posts... I was wondering what colours I would get...

 

I ordered

blue-olive ripple (no. 8 of the new regular ebonite) with silver clip and Bock nib M

and

pink yellow ripple (no. 7 of the new regular ebonite) with Gold clip and JoWo Nib B

 

I knew what to expect for the pink yellow ripple, and was ready for the burgundy mustard look, which does look rather sober, but also rather elegant to me

IMG_3567-3.jpg

the colour in this image is quite true to life

 

I knew my blue olive would be darker than I expected

the final result did surprise me nonetheless...

IMG_3568-3.jpg

I got a very nice black brown! (what happened to the blue is beyond me )

 

I played arouund a while with the pens and inked the pink yellow ripple, which is a CC.

I love this shape! I do not have big hands so the slim barrel and especially the hourglass shaped section, and the absolutely unobtrusive threads, are really comfortable to me.

I own other Rangas, the model 3 and 3c are my best fit, the 4c is larger but still comfortable, the 5 is a fantastic show, but I can hardly use it except for signatures...

This model 8 is a really nice shape and I can see myself using it often for notetaking.

At the moment the Jowo nib is hardstarting and skipping, but being a cc directly connected to a Jowo nib, the culprit is surely the nib (no influence of the pen) it looks like it need some widening of the tines probably. Will look into that later.

 

Further intrigued by "where did the blue of my olive blue ripple go"... I took a few more photos

by overexposing the colours of the ebonite do come out a bit more

IMG_3574-3.jpg

 

IMG_3571-3.jpg

you can actually see some very dark blue now... but overexposure is not true to life.

 

Before purchase Mr. Kandan advised that

"The Blue/ Olive Ripple is very similar to colour #10 in the below listing

http://www.ebay.com/...FoAAOSwZSFXJjCD"

with all my goodwill the colour I got looks nowhere near colour #10 to me...

 

that said however, and given that certainly some more accurate pictures in the Ranga site would be appreciated (may I suggest a lighter and more neutral background? the dark red makes reading any colour very difficult) I must say that

1) I do understand the difficulty of making all batches of ebonite alike, this is a mosty manual process

2) I do understand the fact that the indian hand made pen industry is not going to change names to the ebonite rods just for us to be happier (very probably the process involves adding for example pink and yellow die to the rubber material which is then vulanized, the names derive from the dies used not the final outcome!) and that would be fine by me, as long as we have some well matching photos to represent the colours

3) I appreciate the imperfections as a source of diversity originating from the hand making of these unique instruments, if the ebonite pens were all alike I would be less happy

 

lastly for comparison next to a 3c in black olive ripple bakul, an absolute favourite

IMG_3585-3.jpg

 

I wish to thank Ranga for the group buy and will experiment more Rangas in the future (time to try some premium ebonite?)

 

 

I really love that pink ripple. I'll remember that for next group buy!

 

I have also had a similar experience with the blue color in another purchase - the blue/black arrived green/black.

[mehandiratta]

Will there be another group buy sometime soon, of this model? I'd love to join it!

 

next cycle for model 8 will come in 5 to 6 months....

[Ayami_109]

 

next cycle for model 8 will come in 5 to 6 months....

 

How about for models 4 and 5?

[bobje]

Taike, the blue-orange ripple is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the photographs.

[taike]

Taike, the blue-orange ripple is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the photographs.

You're welcome. The pen is beautiful. There is a richness to the colors I find more and more appealing.

 

It's always tough to choose. I think the pen would look very nice in brushed black!

[mayurbahan]

My Black Bakul Model8 arrived a few days back. But visiting home and relatives after a year and a half can be hectic. Been jumping all over the country ever since I landed. And its almost time to go back!
Anyways, a few pictures of the masterpiece which was waiting for me when I reached home. The pictures looked better on the smaller phone screen. Sorry for that.

 

 

 

 

It's an eye-dropper with Ambitious 35mm Fine nib. Been writing with it for a few days, and I really like the smooth flow and the feel of the nib. There was some leakage, but that might be because the pen was inside the parked car, while the car was being baked in the July Sun. The matte-black looks awesome. For my next Ranga pen, I would like to try some of the rippled colours. I am not too choosy about colours. In fact, it would be fun waiting to be surprised by the final colour of the ebonite.

 

Thanks again Mr.Vaibhav and Mr.Kandan for organising this.

[rramesh]

My Black Bakul Model8 arrived a few days back. But visiting home and relatives after a year and a half can be hectic. Been jumping all over the country ever since I landed. And its almost time to go back!

Anyways, a few pictures of the masterpiece which was waiting for me when I reached home. The pictures looked better on the smaller phone screen. Sorry for that.

 

IMG_20160719_162817.jpg

 

IMG_20160719_162706.jpg

 

IMG_20160719_165743.jpg

 

It's an eye-dropper with Ambitious 35mm Fine nib. Been writing with it for a few days, and I really like the smooth flow and the feel of the nib. There was some leakage, but that might be because the pen was inside the parked car, while the car was being baked in the July Sun. The matte-black looks awesome. For my next Ranga pen, I would like to try some of the rippled colours. I am not too choosy about colours. In fact, it would be fun waiting to be surprised by the final colour of the ebonite.

 

Thanks again Mr.Vaibhav and Mr.Kandan for organising this.

 

 

Love it.

[Dovucoe]

 

I've been enjoying this pen for a couple of weeks now. It is it smallest of the Ranga pens I've tried so far and is wonderfully agile to write with. The hourglass section is a winner in my book! For size comparison, the pen is shown with a TWSBI Micarta.

After a little smoothing, the nib writes nicely. I wasn’t able to fit a larger nib because the interior of the cap is just a little too small. But the pen does close in under two turns which was my special request! Thank you Mr. Kandan!

 

 

 

 

What color combination is this? Looks pretty good!

[bbs]

What color combination is this? Looks pretty good!

I presume this is the blue/orange, and be aware that it does not look like this in real life! I've got the same ebonite, and photos make the colours much more vivid. In truth it's more teal blue and brown. Not unattractive, but not as good as it looks in these pix.

[sansenri]

I think the easier choices here were the black versions... ....black is black... (sing it)

 

anyhow, I did tinker with the nib, as I suspected the tines were too tight, an old piece of camera film run through them did the job, now it's regular and wet as I expect a Jowo B to be

 

I really like the colour of your premium ebonite Helen350! was it the green yellow version? (you never know )

I will be trying some premium next!

[ian1964]

A little late to show because travelling with work. These two beauties (and a bonus pen!) waiting for me. Wonderful packaging and beautifully made. My first and definitely not last Ranga pens. Thank you.