Ranga 4Cs – First Impressions Of A Frankenpen With Style

April 1, 2015

Teri of Peyton Street Pens commissioned the Ranga Pen Company of India to design this pen. The pen barrel and cap are handmade in India of ebonite and the barrel is threaded to fit the nib section from a USA-made vintage Sheaffer Imperial fountain pen. Not technically a Frankenpen, perhaps, but that is the term I decided to use since it is made up of parts from different manufacturers.

In the Evolution of the Sheaffer Inlaid 1959 to present, Jim Mamoulides says that the Imperial pen was introduced in 1961, with the last iteration being made in around 1998. From rickconner.net, Penspotters:

The Sheaffer Imperial is one of the biggest, most diverse, and (if you count its brief revival during the 1990s) longest running model lines that Sheaffer produced after the Second World War, an era during which the firm was at the top of its game in terms of design, performance, and sales.

Not all of the pens that are today considered Imperials were actually named as such at the time; there were a lot of variations but all seemed to share a similar design. The NOS nibs used by Peyton Street are from such "quasi-Imperials," to use their term. From their description of the pen:

We are shipping the pen with a "short diamond" steel inlaid nib as originally intended for the 444, 440 and 330 quasi-Imperial models. Note that the pen will also accept the gold nibs from the high-end 3-digit Imperial models.

Fine and custom Italic fine nibs are available on the drop down list, but Teri does have a limited number of medium nib sections available as well. The custom Italic nib is a bit "sharp," according to Teri. In order to get the maximum line variation from such a narrow nib, the grind is perhaps closer to a crisp Italic grind than to a cursive Italic grind. Sheaffer Imperial fine nibs are generally thought to be smooth but they also run a bit narrow for my tastes and I was concerned that the Italic nib, in addition to being too narrow, wouldn't be smooth enough for me, so I asked for and received a NOS nib section with a medium nib instead.

The Ranga 4CS, first introduced in 2012, originally came in quite a few different colors and a couple of different finishes (matte or smooth.) The choices are a bit more limited now, but there is still a choice! I purchased the Smooth Ripple Blue Green version; it may have been the last one in that finish, as I don't see it listed on the site now. You can also choose the color clip you want, gold or silver; since my nib was steel with the silver colored inlay, I chose the silver clip option. You can also get the pen without a clip. I received the pen two days after ordering it. It came carefully packaged in a sturdy USPS box which was inside of a padded envelope:

And wrapped inside the paper shown above was this sturdy, nice looking textured cardboard pen box;:

The front flap on the lid (sorry, not shown here) closes securely with the use of magnetic closures - pretty cool box at this price point!

And now for the pen, which was nestled in the box beneath a piece of protective foam:

My point 'n shoot camera isn't able to show the color and pattern very well, it makes the pen look very blue, but in person the color is definitely a blue green; the swirls are brownish in color.

Another photo - this time the pen looks much greener because of the lighting, but it really is the same pen! And the fittings are silver colored, not gold as the photo seems to show. (I must apologize again for the quality of my photos - my little camera tries hard but it does have some issues!)

The pen is a cartridge/converter (C/C) fill pen; a Sheaffer piston/twist converter is included in the price. I am currently using the converter, but the pen will also accept proprietary Sheaffer cartridges. As the converter only holds about .6ml of ink, while the cartridge holds 1.5ml, filling a cartridge with a syringe may be the best option if you want to get the optimal ink capacity.

The pen is listed as being 5 7/8" long; here I show it with the TWSBI Mini so that you can get an idea of length and girth:

Another comparison with a Pelikan 400 (vintage,) Lamy Al-Star and Pilot Custom 92:

The number of turns it takes to uncap a pen is an issue for some people, so I thought I should include that information in my review. It takes approximately 6-7 turns to unscrew the cap from the barrel or to screw it back on; for comparison, it takes about two turns to remove/resecure the cap on the TWSBI Mini or an Edison Nouveau Encore, 3 turns to remove/resecure the Pilot Custom 92 cap. The threads are very smooth and the cap is removed and resecured with ease, but this pen is probably not the one you would reach for if you just wanted to jot down a quick note!

The clip on the cap is a simple curved piece of silver colored steel; a poster in another thread who purchased a couple of the 4CS pens with the gold colored clips said he felt they were flimsy and installed off center, but the silver clip on mine seems sturdy and nicely centered; YMMV! I prefer posting my pens so I was happy to find that the Ranga 4CS posts securely; it may be too long when posted for some, however. The pen is well-balanced when posted, but when it is posted it is slightly longer than 7" so may not suit people with smaller hands. For comparison, the Lamy Safari/Vista is about 6 1/2 inches long when posted.

Unless you have really large hands, I should think that the pen can be used quite comfortably unposted; guess it is all personal preference! I have average sized hands for a woman; here is a photo of me holding the posted pen:

This brings me to the finish. Many people are concerned about posting their pen caps because they don't want to mar the finish on their pen barrels. I have not found posting to cause marks on any of my pens thus far, but it is not really a concern with the Ranga 4CS, at least not with mine. The ebonite barrel and cap feel completely smooth to the touch, but to the eye, when the light is just right, slanted vertical lines are evident across the entire surface. Presumably these are marks left by the lathe when the ebonite barrel/cap where made, or machine marks from polishing?? The only other ebonite pen I have is a Noodler's Konrad and it shows similar marking on it. The marking honestly doesn't detract from the pen's appearance, at least for me, but I imagine it may bother others. Here is a photo where I tried to show the markings; hope you can see them despite the glare:

And for perhaps the most important part of a pen review - how the pen writes.... I love it. The pen feels good in the hand, well-balanced, and the flow is excellent; the pen starts up right away, even if left unused for several days. The nib itself is smooth, smooth, smooth, a real pleasure to write with, whether on fancy Rhodia/Clairefontaine paper, composition book paper or cheap copy paper. I find myself fondling the pen in between sentences, it has that nice warm feeling of ebonite and one gets that slight whiff of rubber from it, which I find pleasant in moderation.

I was unable to find any reviews of the Ranga 4CS before buying mine which is why I decided to write this mini-review; I hope is it helpful for those considering this pen. I bought this pen about a month ago so haven't had it all that long, but I sure do enjoy using it. For $74, including shipping within the USA, it is well worth the price of admission into the world of Indian ebonite and Sheaffer nib-goodness. I highly recommend the pen and don't think it will disappoint.

Holly

Edited April 1, 2015 by OakIris

April 2, 2015

I have seriously thought about getting this pen

April 2, 2015

I was given one of these, and the pens all together is great. The only problem I had was with the convertor that came with it, which was a new , old, old stock Sheaffer convertor. Initially it worked great, but eventually it leaked. I have several Sheaffer converters however, and so I just switched it out, and have had no problems since. I have friend who purchased one as well, and also has found it a great pen. He received it with the modern convertor and has had no leakage problems. He did however purchase another one of Peyton Streets unique combinations with a Gold nib, and had to send it back because the new old stock nib was a little rough. It was worked on and came back to him, better, but not nib meister smooth.

April 2, 2015

I would probably just fill cartridges. Faster and more capacity.

April 2, 2015

How would you rate the inlaid nibs wetness on this pen?

April 2, 2015

Glad you like it. I may have to pick up another with the fine italic to satisfy my curiosity.

April 3, 2015

I was given one of these, and the pens all together is great. The only problem I had was with the convertor that came with it, which was a new , old, old stock Sheaffer convertor. Initially it worked great, but eventually it leaked. I have several Sheaffer converters however, and so I just switched it out, and have had no problems since. I have friend who purchased one as well, and also has found it a great pen. He received it with the modern convertor and has had no leakage problems. He did however purchase another one of Peyton Streets unique combinations with a Gold nib, and had to send it back because the new old stock nib was a little rough. It was worked on and came back to him, better, but not nib meister smooth.

I haven't had a problem with the NOS converter that came with my Ranga 4CS; I also use one of them in one of my Sheaffer No Nonsense pens, no leaks with that one either and I hope the converters don't develop any! Sorry you received a lemon, but glad you enjoy the pen, especially now that you have a working converter. I also hope your friend can get the gold nib on his pen writing better. Sheaffer is known for their smooth nibs - talking about the nibs produced by the "real" W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company when they were located in Fort Madison, I have no experience with their modern BIC-era pens. A "rough gold" nib must have been a disappointment to him, and not something you would expect from a Sheaffer NOS nib.

How would you rate the inlaid nibs wetness on this pen?

Well, as I wrote in my review, I think the pen has excellent flow, which means it is on the wet side I suppose. I don't really use statistical weighing systems like 1 out of 10 or 7 out of ten - my 7 might be your 3 while my 1 might be your 6, so, in my opinion, rating scales are somewhat meaningless.

But, since you want me to rate it, I would say the wetness is probably 7 out of 10 - definitely not dry but not a gusher either; just right for me! You can scribble with it just as fast as you can and it never skips a beat, but it won't saturate the paper and bleed through either, even on cheap copy paper - at least this is how it behaves with Sailor Jentle Sky High, which is the only ink I have used in it thus far. I hope that helps!

Glad you like it. I may have to pick up another with the fine italic to satisfy my curiosity.

If you go through with this, I hope you let us know what you think of the nib. Your positive impressions of the pen (except for the gold clip) are one of the reasons I bought one for myself.

Holly

April 5, 2015

I'm having trouble picking which pen to order. I think I have it narrowed down to the matte black, matte red ripple, and smooth yellow ripple.

Anyone have both the smooth and matte versions of the ranga pens for comparison? How bright are the red and yellow?

Thanks

Edited April 5, 2015 by Bold2013

April 5, 2015

Thanks for your review of our Ranga-Sheaffer mash-up. I'm glad you inquired and we were able to supply a medium nib. We do have a few more mediums, and some extra fine nibs as well.

FYI, this pen is also offered in acrylic if you are looking for brighter colors. We have some new super colorful acrylics coming in 6-8 weeks that make our current acrylics (below) look tame.

http://www.peytonstreet.com/pens/ranga/4CS_acrylic_group_1.jpg

TERI