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

[Feanaaro]

I've ordered one, and should receive it next week hopefully. I have a question for the owners. Have all these pens generally "very fine" tips as the OP mentions? I am asking because those on sale on eBay are described as F, not EF-0.38mm, and I have had the similar 618 (piston filler) whose nib was indeed akin to a Western F, not very fine at all.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

My 601's nib is much finer than my 618's. I'd say the 601's nib is EF, while the 618's is FM.

[Honeybadgers]

I got my clear version with the piston plunger and it's even better than the sac fill, 3-4 pumps for a complete fill.

[truthpil]

Dang it, I hate you guys...now I'm going to have to get one of these just to see what they're all about, even though I know it won't match up to my army of real 51's.

 

Of course, I'll have to get a demonstrator version in order to claim that it's for "educational purposes," i.e., to show my science-inclined three year old how the vacuum effect gets ink into pens.

 

Has anyone been brave enough to get a gold-nibbed version? I wonder if the feel is much different from the steel nib.

[Feanaaro]

I got mine, and must say that the nib was definitely not fine as described here. It was indeed quite the same width as the 618, and it also had a "hard spot" or two whenever rolled even slightly. I tried to grind the nib down a bit, which kinda worked and also made it smoother, but I am no nibmeister and thus the result is not the best nib I got.

The pen is otherwise great, I cannot compare with a real P51, but the filling mechanism seems to work well.

[Dolganoff]

I have the tan-grey 601 vith the vac sac filler, and its nib is closer to F than the EF. For the reference, My "M" Pilot Prera and "M" Kakuno write the same or even finer thant the 601.

 

This was written with the 601:

[azkid]

If I didn't already have a 51 I would definitely try one of these. I'm really curious to know if these compare more favorably to the real deal than did my Hero 616. At first glance this one looks promising. Thanks for the review.

 

FWIW, I have seen quite a few of real 51's go for well under $100 in the last few weeks on that auction site. I luckily found my '48 Aerometric for just shy of $40 out the door at a local antique store with a slightly bent tine. Once I fixed that, and after lots of flushing, it is back in service.

[truthpil]

FWIW, I have seen quite a few of real 51's go for well under $100 in the last few weeks on that auction site. I luckily found my '48 Aerometric for just shy of $40 out the door at a local antique store with a slightly bent tine. Once I fixed that, and after lots of flushing, it is back in service.

I've both gotten good deals and totally ripped off buying 51's on eBay. Often in the fpn classifieds you can get an excellent one for $70. Several folks on here periodically put them up for sale.

[Dolganoff]

If I didn't already have a 51 I would definitely try one of these. I'm really curious to know if these compare more favorably to the real deal than did my Hero 616. At first glance this one looks promising. Thanks for the review.

That won't be difficult: Hero 616 are awful.

[WJM]

Depends what you mean. There are different versions of 616s, some of them differ in quality from the others so much they're suspected of being fakes. I have one these and it is, indeed, rather crappy. My two Jumbos on the other hand are very nice pens.

[truthpil]

Maybe this is a silly question, but since I've never seen one of these in person I'm wondering: How do you flush these pens? Do you actually have to remove the back or front to clean out the ink chamber??

[Dolganoff]

I had to unscrew the section and remove the collector to flush. The vacumatics are bad at expelling the ink.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Maybe this is a silly question, but since I've never seen one of these in person I'm wondering: How do you flush these pens? Do you actually have to remove the back or front to clean out the ink chamber??

I tried pumping the vac in water and then expel it by pumping in air, but not all the water comes out so I did what Dolganoff here did, 3 times already actually. I unscrewed the hood, removed the feed and breather hole and poured water into the barrel until it came out clear.

Little did I know that ink gets trapped around the sac. I noticed this only thanks to the video by chrisrap52, who has bought a transparent 601 vacumatic. Now I think I've pumped Diamine Onyx Black into my bottle of Diamine Blue-Black. : (

I was so incensed when I discovered this. I'll ask my father and my brothers if they had any tools to remove the sac for cleaning. But if flushing the pen means removing both the section AND the sac each time, this mechanism sure is a PITA and it was 13€ that I could have spent on a piston filler or even on the 601 draw filler.

Now I know I'm not buying a Parker vacumatic any time soon.

 

I had to unscrew the section and remove the collector to flush. The vacumatics are bad at expelling the ink.

[truthpil]

It sounds like this pen is designed for the old school way of just keeping the same ink in a pen forever and refilling it without flushing haha.

I guess if the ink isn't clog prone then it'd work.

[Mech-for-i]

A simple wrench can get tha sac assembly off ( from the barrel end ) and its probably easier to just detach tha assembly and then run water from the opening on that end and let it flush through the pen out of the nib. Seriously , Vacumatic had always had these nik pick little problem. the trick is in how one operate the pump. if you want to draw ink in, pump it quick, if you want to get water / ink out, then pump it slow slow. My way of cleaning it had always been pump the ink out as much as I could, then get some water in there may be 1/2 to 2/3 full , the just shake it mad like doing a cocktail to get the water rinsing the whole inside, then I pump the water out, repeat the process until you got basically clear water, then just a final rinse and flush .. yes it take time and effort, but it can be done without needing to undo the hood or the pump assembly.

 

Remember though in its days Vacumatic is a daily pen and the users are likely to keep using the same ink ; so cleaning is definitely not a regular affair as most would just keep on using it until ( most likely ) when the pen require servicing

[Dolganoff]

It sounds like this pen is designed for the old school way of just keeping the same ink in a pen forever and refilling it without flushing haha.

 

Yes.

[Argee]

A simple wrench can get tha sac assembly off ( from the barrel end ) and its probably easier to just detach tha assembly and then run water from the opening on that end and let it flush through the pen out of the nib.

 

I've got a 5.5mm nut driver that worked perfectly for me, even had enough space down the shaft to let the button pass, otherwise you can just compress the spring while you unscrew. Does anybody know if the solid color pens with the piston plunger have shown up yet?

[WJM]

Not so long ago I tried to clean a vacumatic 51 by simply filling it with water and then pushing the water out. The way this filling mechanism works is very difficult and slow process to empty the pen just by operating the plunger. Only one or two drops of water get released with every push and to really flush the ink remains out you have to repeatedly fill the pen with water and empty it, several times.

 

It's possible, but a major pain in the ass. I assume it's the same with these Wing Sungs.

Edited April 25, 2018 by WJM

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Thank you to those of you who advised on how to clean this pen, I appreciate it.

Also I imagined that vac pens were destined for one color all their life, but that is not the way we roll in my collection.

[Dip n Scratch]

I really don't think that a pen like this ought to be only available with one nib.

Why not something broader for export?

Whilst I like a fine line you pay for it by scratchiness. In the lower end of the market you certainly do: Hero 616 clone. [eek] Those damn things put me right off this type of pen.

Experience with a genuine Parker is needed to gauge whether the copies are getting any good.