So what new pens are there during the hiatus

[Mech-for-i]

Well, for the news -

 

• Jinhao 100 Century come up with yet more pattern option, all of them now spot the new screw in nib unit construction , I do witness some sells going on with the old friction feed mechanism stock

 

• Kaigelu 916 come out with a whole load of new pattern / colours

 

• Hero. Picasso, Pimeo, Montagut, and quite a few other names yet again had a bunch of new mid range gift market model, typical all metal lacquered construction, some more traditional, some more modern , usual C/C fill open nib no.5 too many to mention specifically but if you guys after that ask your retailer

 

• Hero 616s released, basically 616 plus with metal ( lacquered brass ) barrel and the Chevron / Star Trek inlaid on the hood , with a gold plated clip & matched colour jewel on the cap, now come in the traditional Black, Burgundy, Pale Lake Blue, Rice Bra Grey and an all black ( lacquered ) option with the cap also lacquered over

 

• Hero release an interesting H1219 in a whopping 11 different colour option , got one myself , nice ergonomics

Hero H1219 Circa 2020, on Flickr

 

• Jinhao release their model 85, basically upmarket version of the 51a with gold plated trim , metal lacquered or wood barrel and a screw in cap ( if they would ditch the arrow clip and stay with ball clip I would be happier )

 

• Jinhao release 9056, a 159 sized all wood with now a more understated clip , only marginally slimmer than the 159, look like would work for those with arthritis / CTS issue

 

• Aihao is more about student stationary, but they jus release their Log series of mechanical pencil, gel pen and well, fountain pen in either open nib or hooded nib and in 4 different wood finish, got one of the open nib, surprising good pen for not much money

 

• Hero release their 6199 , a kind of retake on the hooded nib / 616 modernized I guess, but the cap while looking the part is snap on , and the wood can be a bit of PITA when filling ( which is C/C ) , 4 different wood finishes

 

• Hong Dian is into the Acrylic game with their HD960 in 5 different Colour/pattern , its all acrylic including section in the same colour / pattern , usual no.5 nib & C/C fill

 

• Hero release yet another update of the old hooded nib models , the H0503, yes its just making the old 565 now a C/C filler with the inlaid and the clip now in gold finish , and again now in Hero's new traditional colour option of Black, Burgundy, Pale Lake Blue, & Rice Bra Grey

 

• Kaco release their Mellow fountain pen with a , well , hype of the time anti-bacteria surface finishing and look kind of pretty too

 

• Duke had a new  model D27 with 14K gold nib and its in Gold or Silver plated finish

 

• Hero made excursion into the pocket pen with their model 9385, well a photo tells all

 

 

That is a long list and there's so many more in fact ... might be later

[Bill P]

I can't find the Hero H1219 listed anywhere for sale...??

 

Where did you obtain it from?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[bugsydog55]

Appreciate the photos and the update on these new model.  Seems to be much more in the way of wooden pen bodies and I have to say I kind of like that.  There are several of these I could see myself getting so I'm looking forward to their being available soon.  Great to be back!

[Paganini]

I'm not normally into wooden pens, but that Jinhao 9056 looks pretty sweet. Seems like Jinhao is really upping their game recently. I hope some of these pens hit the US market soon! 

[Mech-for-i]

First off they are pretty new , and then ,  well timing is not that great ( well Covid-19 .. enough said ) , so expect some delay before they made it outside of their home market , I actually got mine off Hero's own home online retail via JD, but I would wager they would be on Taobao and Aliexpress too

 

 

 

[MoriartyR]

Wow, that Parker 51 rip-off really is a scummy move from Jinhao. I really don’t think it’s right to buy pens from a company like this.

[sciumbasci]

That hongdian HD960 looks nice! 

I'll see if I can find some more photos of it. 

Hero 6199 makes me wonder how slipper will that section be. I hold the pen close to the nib. 

 

Thanks for the updates! 

[Helen350]

Like the looks of the Kaco Mellow.  Almost ordered the Hong Dian the other day   Because I have a

Jinhao 100 lookalike in the mail, I held off from buying the Hong Dian.  I am thoroughly enjoying my

Jinhao 100s.  Have two of them inked.  Nice writing pen.   Also like the looks of the Hero wooden

pocket pen and the Duke D27.

[linkoiram]

That hero pocket pen is interesting. I wish I could find it for sale on aliexpress

[basterma]

If you use Baopals or Pandaboo, you can get tons of links to English language searches. Pandaboo has filters for brands and nib materials. They also have English speaking customer service representatives who can help in disputes. Pandaboo also has people who will refine the searches you do, so if your search turns up nothing you want, like floor mats made by a different Aurora than the pen company, they will tweak the search results and notify you if you have WeChat.

[drathbun]

They might have been new before FPN went down but the Moonman P135 and Moonman M1000 are interesting Montblanc inspired pens.

 

 

And here is a photo of the new Hongdian 960:

 

Plus, PenBBS released a few duocolour 456 Vac Fillers this morning as well as some rare and new finishes for the 456 including Galaxy, Tuzi, Kun, and Black Tortoise.

[inkstainedruth]

On 12/5/2020 at 10:02 AM, MoriartyR said:

Wow, that Parker 51 rip-off really is a scummy move from Jinhao. I really don’t think it’s right to buy pens from a company like this.

They're not the only company.  Hero has been making 51 clones for a while -- and I have what may be a fake Hero 616 at that.  Someone in my local pen club bought a 10 pack a few years ago on eBay, and handed them out to anyone who wanted to try one.  It was effectively a $1-$2 US pen, that I got for free -- and it writes like a $1 pen (that being said, it's not too bad -- I put iron gall ink in it one time, but haven't used it for about 5 years, so who knows what shape the sac is in now).  And I think I have a couple of Guanlemings that are also hooded nib pens.

As long as they're not blatantly fraudulent (i.e., the pens are labeled as Jinhao and not as Parker, and not being SOLD as Parkers, I don't much care).  I have a Jinhao (599, IIRC) which is a knockoff of a Lamy Safari/al-Star, and it's also not too bad a writer for it being a $5 pen (other than the color, which is a hideous matte gold).  Basically, what it taught me was that I could get used to the triangular nib, and now I have two Safaris, an al-Star, and an LX (and that Jinhao doesn't actually get any use at this point, any more than the "fake" Hero does.

Although it would be nice if Jinhao and similar companies could figure out how to design their OWN pens and not just copy ones already on the market....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mech-for-i]

I think it's very much the arrow clip part , in fact so many P51 style pen were and are made by Chinese fountain pen Mfr and then too many before and after the war by way too many other than Parker. It's funny that the one clip will then suddenly made it the sin. Practically speaking none of the Chinese P51 style pen actually copies of P51 , they all had styled after the pen but use quite different mechanism ,except for Hero 100 which use a very different parts / mechanism but clearly based on the 51's design.

 

I had in my stash some 616 export version which had an art deco clip instead of the arrow clip which made it pretty much like any other similar like the Italian Renaissance , Russian Soyuz, Talax from Taiwan, King from Japan , and a whole load others and those others also had models that use an arrow clip. 

 

If not for the clip and one look past the streamline all taper profile what we are seeing today is a very different pen . It's not more like saying any flat-top is a Parker Century clone which itself is a clone of the brand's own vintage Duofold which itself is no less a clone of earlier Waterman flat-top. The basic general shape / profile had proven itself for hooded nib so I would not be crying for any other design. It works and works great. 

 

Personally I would like to see these pens ditching the arrow clip but it's not me who can had the saying . Hey there's always Hero 100 

[WarrenB]

I don't mind the arrow clip, mainly for the reason it preserves the lines of the pen better than a ball sticking out. If Jinhao (Hero, Wing Sung etc etc) switched to a more 'original' but still flat clip shape, like that nice-looking 9056, I'd be all for it. As it is, I'm not losing much sleep over it.

 

Some other very pretty looking pens here. Some pics not showing up, or not linked? I'll have to have a proper dig when I'm not on my phone during lunch break.

 

(Rice bra grey...?)

[bugsydog55]

I do like the additional photos, Doug, but that has not helped my resistance one bit.  It's funny finding out that you need things you are not aware of due to a photo.

[Mech-for-i]

2 hours ago, WarrenB said:

I don't mind the arrow clip, mainly for the reason it preserves the lines of the pen better than a ball sticking out. If Jinhao (Hero, Wing Sung etc etc) switched to a more 'original' but still flat clip shape, like that nice-looking 9056, I'd be all for it. As it is, I'm not losing much sleep over it.

 

Some other very pretty looking pens here. Some pics not showing up, or not linked? I'll have to have a proper dig when I'm not on my phone during lunch break.

 

(Rice bra grey...?)

 

Ooops - Rice Bran Grey ... lol .. Yes that pale yellow grey is commonly referred to as Rice Bran Grey in its home market cause it resemble the colour of brown rice or as the namesake goes, the bran of the rice crop, you can see a sample of how it looks like on my latest Hero 100

[MoriartyR]

17 hours ago, Mech-for-i said:

I think it's very much the arrow clip part , in fact so many P51 style pen were and are made by Chinese fountain pen Mfr and then too many before and after the war by way too many other than Parker. It's funny that the one clip will then suddenly made it the sin. Practically speaking none of the Chinese P51 style pen actually copies of P51 , they all had styled after the pen but use quite different mechanism ,except for Hero 100 which use a very different parts / mechanism but clearly based on the 51's design.

 

If not for the clip and one look past the streamline all taper profile what we are seeing today is a very different pen . It's not more like saying any flat-top is a Parker Century clone which itself is a clone of the brand's own vintage Duofold which itself is no less a clone of earlier Waterman flat-top. The basic general shape / profile had proven itself for hooded nib so I would not be crying for any other design. It works and works great. 

 

Personally I would like to see these pens ditching the arrow clip but it's not me who can had the saying . Hey there's always Hero 100 

Yes, it’s the arrow clip that I think crosses the line into clear trademark theft. But I acknowledge intellectual property is a legal fiction and one that is not an accepted way of thinking in China. I suppose Jinhao’s view is if they can make one of those for you much cheaper, why not? If provenance was important to you, as indeed it is to many Chinese buyers, you would pay the extra cost and buy the original.

 

There have long been queues outside Geneva jewellers with Chinese tourists waiting to buy their Rolex from the real outlet in the manufacturer’s home country.

 

Anyway, I hope I am not veering too much off-topic.

 

 

 

 

[penzel_washinkton]

Pulled the trigger on the 456 Black Tortoise, always liked the non-catchy colors for PenBBS pens.

[drathbun]

1 hour ago, penzel_washinkton said:

Pulled the trigger on the 456 Black Tortoise, always liked the non-catchy colors for PenBBS pens.

The Black Tortoise is really not black. It is slightly translucent and a deep purple. It is very nice. I have it in a 323.

[Stefan-Ionut-Marius]

I find very interesting the next pens : Jinhao 85 , Hero 6199, Hero  H0503 and Hero 9385, i hope that they appear soon on Ebay and Aliexpress . :)