Raduga-2 Ink (Russia)

[wspace]

Sample of writing Raduga-2 inks with other inks.

Edited June 25, 2011 by wspace

[rff000]

Dear Wspace,

I will be in Moscow next week. Any place to buy Soviet pens in good or unused condition?

Лечу в Москву на будущей неделе. Знаете ли где можно купить неиспользованные советские перьевые ручки? На рынке наверно.

 

Thanks/Спасибо!

 

Sample of writing Raduga-2 inks with other inks.

Edited June 25, 2011 by rff000

[wspace]

You can buy pen "Soyuz" ("Союз") here (but it is very expensive $150):

http://www.elitepen.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3924&sid=a6f7875a2d36215661391ffa23a15d43

 

Or look for it here:

http://www.avito.ru/catalog/all-0/moskva-637640?name=%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8F+%D1%80%D1%83%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B0

I bought this pen for $33 here: avito.ru.

Edited June 26, 2011 by wspace

[Dolganoff]

Has anyone else heard of this?

 

Wow! I'm from Russia originally and therefore remember using Радуга inks quite well (it actually means "Rainbow" in Russian, BTW). Used it exclusively in school and then in Uni (probably still have bunch of old Uni notes written using this ink). Never used red though. In primary/secondary school it was mandatory to use violet/purple ink (the one on your picture). In Uni I mainly used blue and black. Never had any issues with these inks - they behaved quite well on school notebooks.

 

Man, this brings back memories! Я тоже учился в России на фиолетовых чернилах.

I remember these turned into SITB quite often, maybe one of two bottles had the problem.

[rff000]

Has anyone else heard of this?

 

Wow! I'm from Russia originally and therefore remember using Радуга inks quite well (it actually means "Rainbow" in Russian, BTW). Used it exclusively in school and then in Uni (probably still have bunch of old Uni notes written using this ink). Never used red though. In primary/secondary school it was mandatory to use violet/purple ink (the one on your picture). In Uni I mainly used blue and black. Never had any issues with these inks - they behaved quite well on school notebooks.

 

Man, this brings back memories! Я тоже учился в России на фиолетовых чернилах.

I remember these turned into SITB quite often, maybe one of two bottles had the problem.

 

What does SITB mean? My native language is English but I don't know it. Может быть это специфическое слово для знатоков перьевых ручек? Я недавно был в России и купил несколько бутылок чернил, потому что цена очень низкая. Только чернила мне не очень нужны. У меня накапливается все больше и больше хороших ручек и чернил, но я в основном печатаю на клаве и редко приходится писать на бумаге по старому обычаю двадцатого века...увы!

[Possum Hill]

What does SITB mean? My native language is English but I don't know it.

 

...

Slime In The Bottle - something growing in the ink.

 

You might enjoy perusing the glossary at Richard Binder's site -

 

http://www.richardspens.com/

 

There's a wealth of other information there, too.

[Ada]

What does SITB mean? My native language is English but I don't know it.

 

SITB = Slime/Stuff in the Bottle

[rff000]

What does SITB mean? My native language is English but I don't know it.

 

SITB = Slime/Stuff in the Bottle

 

Thanks. I'm doing Russian-to-English translations now and I'm discovering that there are dozens of words and abbreviations in both languages that I don't know. But, at least nowadays you can find everything on the Web. I'd be wasting weeks in the library otherwise.

 

Ron

[JLT]

I'm in the Slavic languages field, so I occasionally travel to Russia. The last time I was there (2009), I had felt annoyed about the difficulty of finding red ink in the U.S., which I like to use for grading papers.

 

I'm just glad to see that at least one educator still uses red for grading papers! I'd use Noodler's Dragon's Napalm myself . . .

Edited August 29, 2011 by JLT

[Scrawler]

Do Raduga make a purple? I was actually trying to trace Gamma Purple ink, which I believe may be from St. Petersburg, but have had no luck locating any.

[Dolganoff]

Yes, they have purple in their line. Purple was traditional school color until 90-ties, and is still rather popular.

[Scrawler]

I have checked their site but there is no way that I can see to contact them to order it. I wonder what the shipping would cost for 24 bottles, which is the quantity they quote. At the quoted price of 9.35 rubles per bottle 24 bottles is not unreasonable. That is a lifetimes supply. I have a 5ml sample which I am writing with and I do like the colour. I wish I had friends or family in Russia.

[rff000]

When I was in Moscow in July, I picked up a few more bottles of Raduga. It wasn't that easy, since my previous outlet for it, the bookstore Dom Knigi, on Novy Arbat, was out of it. I randomly went into an office supply store, adjacent to the Novoslobodskaya Metro and found it there. But, horror of horrors, it was no longer 70 cents, but around 82 cents per bottle! I later discovered that the French equivalent of Walmart, now flooding Moscow with stores (Auchan), was selling Pelikan 4001 for only around two U.S. dollars, in a 50 ml size, so I started to think it may be a better bargain than the Raduga, even though you get 70 ml of Raduga for around half the price. But, I'm thinking about how much Pelikan 4001 costs in the U.S. and two bucks looked very cheap. Anyway, I'm never likely to finish my supply. My work mainly requires that I write on my computer and transmit files electronically. I now use ink for reading actual books and taking notes.

 

When I think about the incredible cost of U.S. made ink, like the brand made in Indianapolis, not far from me, it seems that Raduga could be imported from Russia. But, I wonder if the market is big enough to support it and whether Raduga could ever take off.

 

Ron

 

Note the amazing fact below that the label on the Pelikan 4001 cardboard wrapper says 30 ml, but the bottle label says 50 ml and it feels like 50.

 

http://i51.tinypic.com/1qsh3o.jpg

 

I have checked their site but there is no way that I can see to contact them to order it. I wonder what the shipping would cost for 24 bottles, which is the quantity they quote. At the quoted price of 9.35 rubles per bottle 24 bottles is not unreasonable. That is a lifetimes supply. I have a 5ml sample which I am writing with and I do like the colour. I wish I had friends or family in Russia.

Edited September 7, 2011 by rff000

[Scrawler]

When I was in Moscow in July, I picked up a few more bottles of Raduga. It wasn't that easy, since my previous outlet for it, the bookstore Dom Knigi, on Novy Arbat, was out of it. I randomly went into an office supply store, adjacent to the Novoslobodskaya Metro and found it there. But, horror of horrors, it was no longer 70 cents, but around 82 cents per bottle! I later discovered that the French equivalent of Walmart, now flooding Moscow with stores (Auchan), was selling Pelikan 4001 for only around two U.S. dollars, in a 50 ml size, so I started to think it may be a better bargain than the Raduga, even though you get 70 ml of Raduga for around half the price. But, I'm thinking about how much Pelikan 4001 costs in the U.S. and two bucks looked very cheap. Anyway, I'm never likely to finish my supply. My work mainly requires that I write on my computer and transmit files electronically. I now use ink for reading actual books and taking notes.

 

When I think about the incredible cost of U.S. made ink, like the brand made in Indianapolis, not far from me, it seems that Raduga could be imported from Russia. But, I wonder if the market is big enough to support it and whether Raduga could ever take off.

 

Ron

 

<snip>

 

I have checked their site but there is no way that I can see to contact them to order it. I wonder what the shipping would cost for 24 bottles, which is the quantity they quote. At the quoted price of 9.35 rubles per bottle 24 bottles is not unreasonable. That is a lifetimes supply. I have a 5ml sample which I am writing with and I do like the colour. I wish I had friends or family in Russia.

I doubt whether it would be large enough to justify it, but if you are going to Russia again, perhaps I could get you to mail me a few bottles.

[Santak]

Raduga-2 is very easy to use, very comfortable ink, it lubricates the nib of the pen and lets it slide on the paper. This is very juicy, pleasant writing ink. Quink is not so comfortable as Raduga-2.

[LinnT]

Hey everyone, guess what has popped up on the US 'Bay, blue, black, and PURPLE Raduga ink. A vender from the Ukraine has it $9.99 per 70ml bottle with $8.00 per bottle shipping. I just put in an order for a bottle.

[rff000]

Wow, at $18 a bottle (with shipping), it's almost worth going there to get it for under one dollar. Amazing markup! I could live on that money if I moved there and became an Ebay seller.

[LinnT]

Wow, at $18 a bottle (with shipping), it's almost worth going there to get it for under one dollar. Amazing markup! I could live on that money if I moved there and became an Ebay seller.

I agree on the mark-up based on yours and other's posts, but still not too bad compared to costs of 70 ml bottles of more common ink from many of the US venders.

[Biff]

Hero red ink can be had for only $3.94 including shipping to the USA for a 60 ml bottle - that's cheap! I haven't tried the red but I did buy two bottles of Hero blue and it's quite nice, especially for the price!

 

http://www.tmart.com/search.html?q=Hero+ink

 

(no affiliation, of course)

[Scrawler]

I recently received some bottles of it and have distributed some to inkophiles. Since it is otherwise unobtainable, I think it is very enterprising of that ebay seller to make it available. $18 delivered is a bit steep, but it is very difficult to get hold of. If I had not recently received some I would have gone for that.