Airmail 58C: An Attempt To Review A Fountain Pen

[columela]

This is my first attempt to do a review of a fountain pen. I hope that you will excuse my shortcomings .

Airmail 58C

First Impressions 8/10

I have been looking for a purple marbled fountain pen for a couple of months. After considering several options I found this indian pen site, Fountain pen Revolution. It seemed exotic so I thought it was worth giving it a try. This pen came in a well protected envelope from Delhi, India. It took about 10 days to reach me. I ordered the pen an a syringe with silicon grease as I do not know where to get that in Plymouth. First surprise was the extra pen that came with my purple pen, a serwex demonstrator pen. That is nice customer service!

Appearance 7/10

The pen is light , smelt a little bit of plastic, and it is pleasant in the hand. Well balanced when capped. I like the fact that it has its own style and does not try to copy a known western model like many chinese brands. Love the deep purple color and marble effect.

Design/size/weight 7/10

As I said before, the pen has a distinct design based in its own brand. Not similar to any western brands. Perhaps it might remind me of old british style pens like Conway Stewart of Mabie Todd. Good size, not too big or too small. Comfortable in the hand and well balanced. It measures 13 cm capped and 15,7 cm posted. It weights 18g full of ink, so it must be 14-15 empty.

Nib 8/10

The nib is a fine , steel nib. Writes well just in the first instance after inking the pen. It is a very fine nib , does not skip but requires a bit of pressure to keep the flow going. Very well suited for my minute hand writing.

Filling system 6/10

This is my first eyedropper pen. It has the advantage of high capacity, but the filling mechanism is somehow cumbersome, as you need to know how to do it properly. Thanks to Kevin for his video in the FPR website, and also for preparing the pen correctly for first use. Once that is done, writes very well and has a nice window in the barrel to see how much ink is left.

Cost and value 9/10

For the cost of this pen I cannot buy something so nice in the High Street here in the UK. Besides, the pen has some personality and it is not an imitation. It is obviously not a luxury item , but it is a nice writing instrument, well suited to my needs.

Conclusion 7,5/10

A good looking pen, which writes well out of the box, Has lots of capacity and a personality of its own. Not so nice in my experience to similar priced chinese pens that feel more luxurious but a good addition to the collection and deserving of a rotation slot , particularly when heavy duty is foreseen. It has left me with some curiosity about other indian brands.

 

[Uncle Red]

Nice first review! Those are nice looking pens. The nib may need a bit of tuning, it should write without pressure. Do you have a loupe? Look up "baby bottom" as it applies to nibs.

[bailey philip]

Good review/ I have a brown version and have found it to be a decent writer. I made some adjustments to the nib, after watching a few videos and found that I could smooth it out a bit and get a wetter flow from the nib. I like the eye-drop filling system since it does allow a large quantity of ink. The price is good. (The Serwex demonstrator I received did not endear me to that brand, I never could get that demonstrator to write.)

[WDP4BAAZ]

Good review of a practical pen ..

[Gloucesterman]

It's a nice simple pen that provides an overall positive writing experience. As time goes on you will have the opportunity to use it and tweak it until it is just right for you and your writing style.

[arcadeflow]

I am not a fan of purple things, but I have to say that this pen is gorgeous.

 

I was just wondering, this is an Indian pen, right? Do they take both regular fountain pen and indian inks?

 

I got myself a bunch of japanese pens and probably I will adventure with an indian one and a chinese one later.

[indfpens]

Yes, They take Indian inks.

[Scribblesoften]

They take Indian inks but not India Ink. The latter contains shellac.

[mknoblauch]

Nice review. I am wondering how long you are able to go on writing without refilling compared to a standard c/c pen of the same nib size. Please post later if you can. I have been considering an eyedropper as a note taking pen that I won't have to worry about running out of ink at the worst possible moment.

[drvishal]

This is really nice pen and all of wality have unique design here in india you get them at 1 to 1.5 US $

If you want to try indian pens you can also try handmade ebonite pens.

You can get from ebay asapens, fountainpen revolution etc these sites ship from here.

[maverink]

yes these indian ED pens hold lots of ink