Wing Sung 601. A Real Vacumatic, Modern Parker 51?

[Honeybadgers]

Any thoughts on the new 12k gold nib version?

 

For the price of a gold nib 601, hooded or triumph, I'd just pass and go get a real parker 51 at that point. the 601 is kind of amazing because of its value. The reviews I've seen are that the nib is a nail anyways, and with how cheap replacement nibs are, if you wanted an iron gall pen, might as well just buy 10 nibs for $5 and replace them as they slowly get chewed up by the iron gall ink.

[Mech-for-i]

do you have a link!? i am very interested...

 

edit: nevermind, found one

 

tks! last time i had looked, it was 601A only.

don't think they've made it out of the country yet , but eventually they will , pretty new here so you'll had to wait till the online retailer catch up ,as of now its on its home countries many inline retail alright if you can get to those

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mech-for-i

[Mech-for-i]

 

For the price of a gold nib 601, hooded or triumph, I'd just pass and go get a real parker 51 at that point. the 601 is kind of amazing because of its value. The reviews I've seen are that the nib is a nail anyways, and with how cheap replacement nibs are, if you wanted an iron gall pen, might as well just buy 10 nibs for $5 and replace them as they slowly get chewed up by the iron gall ink.

Had to agree with that, if one already got the nib it might worth it to just swap them in, if for buying new .. well .. anyway been using these hooded nib for decades and I had no issue with IG ink even with my old old old vintage 50's & 60's nib , they are still going strong afte all these years abused by Diamine Register , Hero 232 and so many others ... provided routine cleaning done, modern day IG ink are really not that corrosive

[Jorge]

don't think they've made it out of the country yet , but eventually they will , pretty new here so you'll had to wait till the online retailer catch up ,as of now its on its home countries many inline retail alright if you can get to those

Bobby (no affiliation whatsoever) seems to have them readily available in his ebay shop (office_supplies_pens).

I have already bitten the hook

Hope to receive it sometime after four weeks from now.

[WJM]

This all steel version seems interesting but since 601 fills directly to the barrel, poses the question whether the issue of possible corosion is somehow resolved?

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

This all steel version seems interesting but since 601 fills directly to the barrel, poses the question whether the issue of possible corosion is somehow resolved?

i suspect it's a metal sleeve over a plastic inner barrel.

[MuddyWaters]

 

I don't use my turquoise one much since it has the old, now discontinued sac filler that the 51 did and was a little less pleasant to fill, but I use my clear piston style button filler one all the time. Have it inked with all sorts of stuff for long periods and it neither stains nor dries out, and it's proven to be a tank. Cap is still nice and

 

Still highly recommend to anyone who wants to try a 51. Apart from the "not a gold nib" fact, it's pretty much a perfect 51 homage.

 

And you just made me pick it up, and i dropped it. On my brand new carpet. I'm naming the new little red stain after you.

Oxblood? Oxblood on the carpet?

[welch]

A small addition: I got a 601 a couple days ago. Impressive, but I dislike the original nib. I also got four Bobby nibs. Last night I installed one. It was easy, with a couple of looks and re-looks at SBRE Brown's "How to Disassemble a Wing Sung 601". Now I have a nice medium nib, and I've been experienced pulling the nib, feed, and collector. (Could not pull the breather tube, but that didn't matter). I patiently wrenched the nib-feed-collector around until I finally got it lined up with the hood. (Forgot to mark off the line of barrel and hood to get the correct orientation of the nib, but fixing was no big deal). When I have changed nibs on a Parker 51, I have removed the hood and ignored the collector -- just slid the old nib off the feed and slid on the new feed. Next time I'll try that with the 601, although memory says that the nib might be too tight and too far inside the collector...

 

It is a pleasure to work on this pen.

 

Of course I will continue to carry a 51 Vac or a 51 aero every day, but the Wing Sung 601 parts fit logically and it is fun to work on. And it writes well.

 

A final test: would the 601 have dried out by morning? No, the 601 was just as wet and ready. That is the real test of the Parker 51, which was intended to lay down ink as soon as the nib touched paper, and to got many days, or weeks, between use. (Not that Parker expected anyone to put aside a 51...it was the king of pens back when people used a fountain pen as their daily personal writing instrument. But, still...)

Edited May 23, 2020 by welch

[Mech-for-i]

he 601 use the de-facto 18.5mm hooded nib , nib choice is abundant and many from 14K to steel and if you can find it the old Hero 19.5 spec also ( which is still used on the 616 ) , its no surprise people would find the stock nib less than pleasing, after all its very well suited, and very well tuned to write - of course - Chinese in a day to day handwriting fashion .. not exactly the same as day to day handwriting for Arabic or Latin based language and also not the same as other Asian language

 

it is indeed a modern day re-incarnation of the vac 51 but there is a big difference, back in 51's days , a pen , especially something like the 51 is a premium top end tool, where today the 601 is not mean to be , its to be a decent , and functional tool with decent if not great quality and of course priced likewise and at that I think its fulfill the role and by extension many of the new generation of hooded nib from China

[MuddyWaters]

he 601 use the de-facto 18.5mm hooded nib , nib choice is abundant and many from 14K to steel and if you can find it the old Hero 19.5 spec also ( which is still used on the 616 ) , its no surprise people would find the stock nib less than pleasing, after all its very well suited, and very well tuned to write - of course - Chinese in a day to day handwriting fashion .. not exactly the same as day to day handwriting for Arabic or Latin based language and also not the same as other Asian language

 

it is indeed a modern day re-incarnation of the vac 51 but there is a big difference, back in 51's days , a pen , especially something like the 51 is a premium top end tool, where today the 601 is not mean to be , its to be a decent , and functional tool with decent if not great quality and of course priced likewise and at that I think its fulfill the role and by extension many of the new generation of hooded nib from China

Does the 618 have a different nib? Mine writes a lot better than my 601 did before I lost it.

[Mech-for-i]

Does the 618 have a different nib? Mine writes a lot better than my 601 did before I lost it.

depending on the nib choice .. 618 come with a number of nib choice and so do 601 ( at least in its home market , on line retailer might limit that to just the standard Fine ) AFAIK, if spec for the same the 601 fine and the 618 fine are no different, and if there are any its down to batch variation , my 618 Fine and my 601 Fine write pretty much the same

[Aditlojs]

I just purchased a 601 based on this thread. I am loving the simple aesthetic.

 

A couple of notes...

 

1. I'm having more of an issue with nib orientation than I thought I would. I didn't realize how much I use the nubs on the Lamy 2000 to guide my alignment with the hooded nib.

 

2. I should have done more research into cleaning and maintenance. Shipping the tool will take a while.

 

Other than that, its been a great addition.

[welch]

I just purchased a 601 based on this thread. I am loving the simple aesthetic.

 

....

2. I should have done more research into cleaning and maintenance. Shipping the tool will take a while.

 

 

 

- You don't need the tool to clean the 601, unless you want a complete whistling clear barrel. I suspect that filling with pen flush, or even just water, and then removing the hood, nib, collector, feed, and breather tube, that all that will clean out out the 601 well enough. Those part unscrew (hood) and pull out.

 

- Don't worry about cleaning and flushing the 601. It is overkill to take "pen hygiene" so far that you feel required to flush every time you change inks or once a week. Parker used to suggest that owners of the P-51 soak a pen for a few hours -- I take that to be overnight -- about once a month. (That's my memory from a cartoon pamphlet about Peter the Pen. Haven't looked at it for a couple years).

 

- Watch the video by SBRE Brown on "How to disassemble a Wing Sung 601". If you go in from the nib-side, you can get everything except the filler-unit. That's what I did to replace the stock nib with one of the Bobby medium / bent nibs.

 

- Like you, I'm waiting for the filler removal tool. Meanwhile, the 601 has been a delight. A surprise, also.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

A simple wrench or pair of pliers can be used to remove the filling mech from a 601. Special tool is not needed as it is simply a properly sized socket.

 

and since the piston seals itself, when putting it back in, it is not necessary to crank it down very tightly, thereby making it easier to remove next time

 

When cleaning mine, i pull the filling mech out, and shove a bulb syringe into the back to flush it. occasionally i will remove the hood to more easily clean out the collector. A little silicone grease on the piston before re-assembly

[Aditlojs]

 

- You don't need the tool to clean the 601, unless you want a complete whistling clear barrel. I suspect that filling with pen flush, or even just water, and then removing the hood, nib, collector, feed, and breather tube, that all that will clean out out the 601 well enough. Those part unscrew (hood) and pull out.

 

- Don't worry about cleaning and flushing the 601. It is overkill to take "pen hygiene" so far that you feel required to flush every time you change inks or once a week. Parker used to suggest that owners of the P-51 soak a pen for a few hours -- I take that to be overnight -- about once a month. (That's my memory from a cartoon pamphlet about Peter the Pen. Haven't looked at it for a couple years).

 

- Watch the video by SBRE Brown on "How to disassemble a Wing Sung 601". If you go in from the nib-side, you can get everything except the filler-unit. That's what I did to replace the stock nib with one of the Bobby medium / bent nibs.

 

- Like you, I'm waiting for the filler removal tool. Meanwhile, the 601 has been a delight. A surprise, also.

 

I definitely don't need/want to take the whole thing apart. I also don't want to mix inks when switching inks.

 

I'll take a look at SBRE's video. Thanks for the the suggestion.

 

I am after a consistent and easy way to flush and dry it out.

 

 

...

 

When cleaning mine, i pull the filling mech out, and shove a bulb syringe into the back to flush it. occasionally i will remove the hood to more easily clean out the collector. A little silicone grease on the piston before re-assembly

 

That sounds like the process I am searching for. I'll give that a go once I use up this ink.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Aditlojs

[LiquidInk]

I picked up the steel wing sung 601 and its nice. worth the few more dollars over the plastic ones to me but I like metal too for the weight/heft. I got the bent nib for a medium/broad size nib. worth the around $25 for nibs+pen to me.

[stephanos]

I absolutely love the idea of this pen.

 

But I had an unfortunate experience with mine.

 

I bought a new 601 back in March: an army-green vacumatic, with steel cap and the non-hooded (triumph?) nib. The look and feel of the pen were excellent - and with the ink window, metal plunger and nib choice, better than my Parker 51 to my heretical mind. Given that the P51 has been out of production for decades, I have no problem with the design similarities. And it wrote brilliantly. I was delighted. I thought I had found my new daily carry to, at and from work.

 

Alas, the love lasted less than a day.

 

I inked the pen up in the morning and wrote with it joyfully and extensively. In the afternoon, it suddenly started leaking (ink started pouring) from the nib, making a big mess. I hadn't dropped it or hit it against anything. So I returned the pen and got a refund.

 

From the posts in this thread, it looks like I'm in the clear minority. Although I'm tempted to give it another try, once bitten, twice shy: I've not bought a replacement.

[taike]

I absolutely love the idea of this pen.

 

But I had an unfortunate experience with mine.

 

I bought a new 601 back in March: an army-green vacumatic, with steel cap and the non-hooded (triumph?) nib. The look and feel of the pen were excellent - and with the ink window, metal plunger and nib choice, better than my Parker 51 to my heretical mind. Given that the P51 has been out of production for decades, I have no problem with the design similarities. And it wrote brilliantly. I was delighted. I thought I had found my new daily carry to, at and from work.

 

Alas, the love lasted less than a day.

 

I inked the pen up in the morning and wrote with it joyfully and extensively. In the afternoon, it suddenly started leaking (ink started pouring) from the nib, making a big mess. I hadn't dropped it or hit it against anything. So I returned the pen and got a refund.

 

From the posts in this thread, it looks like I'm in the clear minority. Although I'm tempted to give it another try, once bitten, twice shy: I've not bought a replacement.

 

Sorry to hear about that unhappy experience. I've been toting around a grey non-hooded 601 for a good while (bought it at release) in my traveler's notebook for filling forms and the like. Never a leak and, better yet, it's always ready to write. The stiff nib is perfect for the purpose - if still somewhat jarring to my eye.

[LiquidInk]

Bobby has a 601A that uses a normal nib (not the triumph nib that wraps around) but it's a gold nib/steel body that cost $77, so far it's the only one I've seen that uses the normal open nibs. Maybe he will put out non-gold version with that feed for a cheaper price in the future

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001008305715.html

Edited June 8, 2020 by LiquidInk

[Honeybadgers]

Bobby has a 601A that uses a normal nib (not the triumph nib that wraps around) but it's a gold nib/steel body that cost $77, so far it's the only one I've seen that uses the normal open nibs. Maybe he will put out non-gold version with that feed for a cheaper price in the future

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001008305715.html

 

Can someone ask bobby if it's a #5 or #6? if it's a #6, that price is kind of incredible and I'm buying one. Might even if it's a #5.