Posts filed under Retro 51

Pairings Party: Retro 51 Coffee House Tornado Fountain Pen and Kobe Kitano Antique Sepia

What kind of party features a coffee-themed pen and Brown ink? My kind of party! The pairing of the Retro 51 Coffee House Tornado Fountain Pen with Kobe Kitano Antique Sepia has been my most used writing combo over the last month, and has taken the clubhouse lead early into September.

The Retro 51 Coffee House is a Goldpsot exclusive, which they kindly sent me earlier this Summer to try out. The black-based pen features chalkboard-style graphics you can find at a coffeehouse - beans, mugs, presses, cups, steam - the works. It’s a cool design for coffee lovers like myself, and I especially like the all-black hardware.

That includes the nib, which is coated black to match the rest of the pen. Retro 51 switched over to Jowo nibs years ago, and this #6 Fine nib writes nicely. The black coating may add the slightest bit of line width compared to a standard uncoated steel nib, or it could be a placebo effect. There are so many variables to take into account beside nib width - ink properties and paper, for starters. Regardless, this one writes smoothly, and the ink flows well.

This pen also fits my hand well. The underlying barrel is stainless steel, but it’s not heavy. There is some weight to it, but it is well-balanced throughout the tapered barrel. The metal section has a slight concave toward the nib for a solid gripping surface. The cap is threaded, taking two turns to remove or replace, and the clip provides a strong attachment.

In choosing an ink, there was no chance I was inking this pen up with anything but Brown. This shade has been edging towards the top of my usage list for the past year, after years of avoiding it. Antique Sepia was recommended to me by a friend after bemoaning the limited nature of Sailor Tea Time Series Fika Coffee Ink, one of my favorites.

This ink is a rich, dark brown that could easily pass a “normal” ink in a business setting. Some lines lean black, and some of the thinner areas of shading bring in the brown. Let’s keep it on theme here and call it a nice Medium Roast. There is a hint of green sheen with the right amount of ink on the right type of paper, but I rarely see it from my standard writing on Bank paper, PLOTTER paper, or Kokuyo paper - all of which I’ve used this combination with heavily.

The Retro 51 Coffee House Tornado Fountain Pen is $119 from Goldspot, and Kobe Kitano Antique Sepia is $30 at Vanness Pens. The Retro 51 is at a premium from their standard offerings, primarily due to the store exclusive/limited edition nature of the pen, plus the awesome artwork and finishes. Standard Retro 51 fountain pens start around $65 if you are looking to try out a great pen, but don’t need a full caffeine fix. $30 for 50 ml of Kobe (ie. Sailor,) ink is fine by me. Yes, it is still expensive/ml but at least the multiplier is 50, instead of the smaller bottles Sailor loves so much.

I drink coffee every day, often many times a day, so this pen and ink combo has been a blast to use. I just had to make sure I had the real thing flowing through my veins before attempting to write with the pen and ink version.

(Goldspot provided this pen at no charge, and Vanness Pens provided the ink at a discount, to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 2, 2024 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Retro 51, Fountain Pens, Kobe, Ink Reviews, Pen Reviews.

Retro 51 Tornado Mercury 7 Limited Edition Rollerball Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

There are just a few fascinations that have stuck with me through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood — subjects or ideas that are endlessly interesting. Stationery is definitely one of those things, but another is astronomy and space travel.

Growing up next to a rocket arsenal and a NASA office is a sure-fire way to at least be aware of the scientific and technology feats that space travel require, and I was lucky to have as much information as I could handle. Watching space shuttle launches down in Florida is a core memory for me. I wasn't around during the initial space race or the Apollo missions, but I love learning about them and marveling at the ingenuity, bravery, and guts required to make those missions happen.

Way back in the late fifties and early sixties, there was a race between the US and Russia to put a human being into space and orbit the earth (and bring them back safely!). The engineering and technological advancements required to make this happen are incredible, and the ego-driven competition between nations forced everyone to work at break-neck speeds to beat the other one to orbit. Russia was first to do this with Sputnik, but the US was fast on their heels with the Mercury missions. These were tiny capsules that had barely enough room for a person to sit and operate controls and read instruments — and strapped to a giant rocket that propelled the capsule away from Earth. I can't even imagine what it felt like to be one of those astronauts strapped to the top of a rocket intended to shatter all kinds of barriers and previously undreamt of limitations. But, they did it. There were seven astronauts that were part of the Mercury project, and they paved the way for larger, more daring projects after them.

The limited edition Mercury 7 rollerball from Retro51 was commissioned by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). This foundation was created in 1984 by six of the original Mercury 7 astronauts as a way to recruit and develop top talent for the science and aerospace industry. You can read more about what the ASF do on their site, but it's really cool that they wanted to commemorate the Mercury 7 with a nice rollerball pen. The thing is, ASF and Retro51 knocked it out of the park with the design on this. It's easily one of my favorite Retro51 Tornado models.

I'm not one to care about packaging, but limited edition Retro51 tubes are one exception I make. For the Mercury 7 edition, it features a silver tube with a drawing of the astronauts in their space suits. Prior to the bulky white suits that we associate with Apollo and Space Shuttle missions, the Mercury suits were a shiny silver material that look ultra classic by today's standards. The tube is a piece of art and something I'll use to store this special pen.

Getting to the pen, it's a standard Tornado rollerball model with the Schmidt P8127 medium refill inside. I typically swap these out for the finer P8126 refill, but the included refill is fantastic out of the packaging.

The silver and white color scheme match the space suits and rocket/capsule colors, and provide a fantastic backdrop for the debossed lines and decals that mimic the Mercury space capsule. And, the NASA and Mercury 7 logos really pop off the silver body of the pen.

The nose cone, clip, and twist mechanism are all a flat white color that match the body well. The limited edition number is stamped on the twist mechanism band (there are only 1,958 of these available), and there's also an ASF logo in the finial. 2024 is the 40th anniversary of ASF as a foundation, so that's why the finial includes a "40" along with the logo.

Writing with the pen is just like writing with any other Tornado. It's a great pen that delivers an exceptional writing experience.

Being a limited edition, this is more of a keepsake item than a workhorse pen. If the Mercury missions are special to you or someone you know, this makes an excellent gift or collectible. Retro51 and ASF really did a great job designing Mercury 7 limited edition of the Tornado. At $68, it's a little more expensive than a standard Tornado, but this is expected for the limited runs. If you like the design and can afford to pick one up, you won't be disappointed.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Retro 51.

Retro 51 Tornado Big Shot USPS Dragons Stamps Review

It doesn’t take much for me to review a pen, but a pen with dragons? How fast can it get here?

The Retro 51 Tornado Big Shot USPS Dragons Stamps not only looks amazing, but sports a feature that I have yet to review on a Retro 51: it’s big. I guess the Big Shot name gave that away, huh? But maybe not, so that’s why I wanted to take a look at it today, and compare it to the standard sized Tornado that many people are familiar with.

As a regular standard Tornado user, the size of the Big Shot is immediately noticeable when you pick it up. The length of the two pen models is identical at 125 mm, but the diameter is where the changes are. For comparison, here are the specs:

Big Shot grip area: 6.4 mm

Big Shot upper barrel: 9.2 mm

Big Shot Weight: 40 g

Standard grip area: 4.4 mm

Standard upper barrel: 6.5 mm

Standard Weight: 28 g

Looking at the numbers, the 12 gram weight difference is noticeable, but not that big of a jump in overall feel. The Big Shot is a well-balanced model, and while I noticed the weight difference when switching back and forth between the two models, I didn’t find it to be too heavy. The diameter, though, did take a bit of getting used to.

I took the barrel diameter measurements with my calipers right in the middle of where I grip the pen, so take my listed measurements with that caveat. The grip is obviously wider in the Big Shot, and given the refill used - the stock Schmidt P8127 used across the lineup by Retro 51 - it works. Wide refills and wide grips go together in my book, and it didn’t feel like too much of an outlier.

What took the most getting used to was the much wider upper barrel. Even though that area of the pen (I measured just under the clip/mechanism hardware near the top of the barrel,) sits in the open area in the cusp of my hand, I kept thinking about how bulky it felt there. Not in a good or a bad way, but in a “I keep noticing this,” kind of way. It’s wide up top, for sure.

With the size comparisons out of the way, let’s talk about the one thing that Retro 51 usually nails: the design. They have worked in collaboration with the United States Postal Service (USPS) for years, and each of those designs has been a hit. But this one, featuring Dragon stamps, was the first design that I had to get for myself. It’s so cool looking, with the bright colors and different stamp designs placed around the barrel. I’m having as much fun looking at it as I am using it.

From a price perspective, the Retro 51 USPS Dragons is $61 and lands in the middle of the Retro 51 Tornado lineup. The base level solid color Tornado is $28, and the more detail and design elements the pen has, the greater the price, reaching upwards of $100 for very complicated releases.

I’ve been enjoying my time with this pen, and I’m glad to now have a Big Shot in the collection. As a model, I will always prefer the standard size Tornado, but if the design dictates it - as in this case - I may consider adding another to the collection down the line.

(Goldspot provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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