# Ever seen a kit that would make a pen like this



## chartle (Dec 27, 2015)

HERO 360° Extra Fine Nib Pink Silver Ink Fountain Pen Iridium Point Pens Sale-Banggood.com

or this

Black Hero 9296 0.38mm Extra Fine Smooth Iridium Fountain Nib Pen - US$2.29

Or maybe another question. Is it possible to scavenge the parts?

Going to give it a try. they are only a couple of bucks. And yes I've already been informed by my Pen Nerd son that they are low quality.


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## MattTheHat (Jan 6, 2016)

I'm tempted to order a couple from FleaBay and scavenge parts myself. 


-Matt


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## chartle (Jan 6, 2016)

MattTheHat said:


> I'm tempted to order a couple from FleaBay and scavenge parts myself.
> 
> 
> -Matt



I have four different ones coming from banggood. I ordered them right after Xmas so I don't expect them until starting next week. No pen was over $3.00. 

I'll have my pen nerd son try them out before I hack into them. 

My thought is to reuse the section and cut away any threads and then insert them into my tubes. This maybe a good project to try my hand at closed end pens. I just got some tooling in today that I can use.

In fact the pink one looks like its just two brass tubes for the body and the cap just waiting to be wrapped in a thin layer of wood.


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## monophoto (Jan 6, 2016)

I have several Hero pens on my desk right now.

As Cliff was advised by his son, they are cheap copies of the Parker 45 and 51 designs of the late 1950's and 1960's.  And there are issues:
1.  The hooded nib is very fine and gives more 'feedback' that any other pen I own.  That's 'pen-speak' for the nib is scratchy, and there's not a whole lot you can do to improve it.  And because the nib is very fine, it tends to dry out quickly if the pen is not used regularly.
2.  It uses a really chintzy 'aeromatic' filling mechanism - essentially, a clear plastic sac that is squeezed by a really flimsy metal bar.  To fill the pen, you squeeze the bar, and then slowly release it.  In theory, squeezing the sac creates suction that draws ink into the sac.  In practice, it actually doesn't happen every time, and when it does happen, the amount of ink that is drawn into the sac is limited, so it is necessary to refill the pen frequently.  
3.  The metal cap is a friction fit that slides over the section.  It's reasonably attractive, but I don't think it would be practical to try to recycle the section and filling mechanism in a shop-made pen.
4.  The Chinese Hero pens aren't very rugged.  The first one I owned (I bought it in a gift shop in the Pearl of the Orient tower in Shanghai) literally broke in half - the plastic section cracked just above where it threaded into the barrel.


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## Silver (Jan 6, 2016)

chartle said:


> I have four different ones coming from banggood. I ordered them right after Xmas so I don't expect them until starting next week. No pen was over $3.00.
> 
> I'll have my pen nerd son try them out before I hack into them.
> 
> ...



I brought 10 from the same supplier, they are the Baoer ones. Look and feel reasonable quality and a shame to rip them apart. 

Did it on one but with limited success, and once I had done it I thought all I'm doing is using even cheaper parts than is already on the market in kit form and it would only be a copy with my finishing. 

So my grandson is using them now at school. Cheap enough to learn with and replace.

Personally I wouldn't do it.


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## chartle (Jan 6, 2016)

Silver said:


> Did it on one but with limited success, and once I had done it I thought all I'm doing is using even cheaper parts than is already on the market in kit form and it would only be a copy with my finishing.



I'm getting them for the fine hooded nib. I've never seen a kit that uses a nib smaller than a #5.


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## chartle (Jan 8, 2016)

So far I have three of the pens I ordered a Hero 70, 448 and 9075.

The 70 and 448 have metal sections and bodies, the 9075 is all plastic and wouldn't expect it to last. It also has a "comfort" triangular grip that just not right.

The 70 has a weird double feed, an ink sac and is a tad awkward, not sure exactly how to place it on the paper since it doesn't have a normal nib.

The 448 has a slide, not twist, ink converter and writes as nice as the Cross refill in my EDC slimline.

They all appear to have internal plastic caps inside the cap.


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