# Review: The Hero "Star Trek" series, 329, 330, 331, 336



## Seele

Honestly, I have no idea what the Hero boys were thinking. It was early 1962, the high-end 100 was selling in limited quantities as expected, the mass market 616 was doing great for a whole year offering a good quality pen at a sensible price. But why would Hero have wanted to design a new pen destined to be the 329? Sure it is a bit smaller and simpler, but I do not have access to contemporary price lists to see how much the 329 was cheaper than the 616, if it was at all cheaper.

By looking at an example of the 329, it is clear that they did all the expected tricks to lower production cost. Simpler design with fewer parts, elimination of the always-visible clear collar which requires two metal collars, deep drawn aluminium cap, the usual stuff. They added a "Star Trek" arrowhead at the tip of the hood to perk up its sombre appearance: export version has a gold-colour alloy one, domestic version has a stainless steel one. But it is not merely a cut-down 616, but a new design with the aim of facilitating mass production with high consistency, ensuring a high level of fit and finish.

Sales went completely nuts. Out of every 100 pens that left the factory, 55 were 329s, and they also brought in more than 80% of the firm's export revenue. That's suggestion enough of the 329's merits. After all, the savings from cutting down the frills and garnishes ended up getting spent on the raw performance instead. I have no idea what Hero's boss thought about this: it sure did a good job pushing what was meant to be the main model - the 616 - into a corner, but then it sure made a nice little earner!

Here are the specifications. Length: pen only 121mm, capped 138.5mm, posted 146mm, maximum diameter 11mm. Weight: pen only 8g, with cap 11.4g. Centre of mass from tip: pen only 61mm, posted 78mm. So it is a bit shorter than the 616 but of comparable thickness. The styling is still the same with the retro-streamlined look, the slim metal ring actually improved the svelte look too.

With the success of the 329, Hero developed new variants. Keeping the same main section assembly, the changes were basically different styling of the barrels and caps. The 330 has a shallow cone at the end of the barrel, both the 331 and 336 have differently styled screwed-in metal jewels. In practice, they perform identically, and the performance differences, if present, are just variations between examples. Basically, just pick the styling you prefer.

















However, being the original - and with its classic styling, the 329 has become the most iconic model and tend to cost a little more just because of it. So much so, Hero's new lower-end series also revived the 329 name but applied to a pen of quite different design, and sadly, of variable build quality, unlike the original series where the quality control was much more stringent.

In terms of performance, there's a certain "in-yer-faceness". You don't dance with it like with a nib with appreciable flex, or even a gold 100 nib; the gold-plated steel nib is more like a cold steel blade for figure skating. Every time it touches the paper, every move, twist and turn, you feel it is a precision instrument, built to bring out your skill in writing; after trying a few different inks in this 329, now it is filled with iron gall and it's handling it as if it belongs there.

I would definitely recommend any of these Star Trek models, for it can bring out the better side in its user. Perhaps that's what a good tool is all about.


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## D N Ravenna

Thanks! I had been looking at these. Might need to try one soon!

;-)

Dan


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## Seele

D N Ravenna said:


> Thanks! I had been looking at these. Might need to try one soon!
> 
> ;-)
> 
> Dan


Todd at isellpens has the 330 and 336 - both early production runs - on serious discount, along with the 616 and other models; well worth checking out. Norman at hisnibs has the 329 too, but costlier.


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## Kittysafe

I went to ISellPens.com Shipping Info ~ Fountain Pens, Roller Balls, Ball Points, and Pencils
and they say: "If you would rather not use Paypal we can accept checks and money orders Payable in US funds only. We ask that you email us your order first "

And yet they don't have their email listed anywhere on the website... in fact there's NO contact info on the website at all, which is not something I would trust
no matter how trusting anyone says they are, that's just weird.

I did however find this elsewhere on the web:

Pen & Ink Investment Inc.
Todd Nussbaum
7017 E Crocus Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
www.isellpens.com

Pen & Ink Investment Inc. _Todd Nussbaum 7017 E Crocus Drive Scottsdale_, _AZ 85254_ (480) 556-1017. Hours 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. The Nussbaum Family.


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## Oldheritage

I found the contact info at the bottom of the homepage?


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## Kittysafe

Ahhh wow, it took forever to load because of the photos, must be a slow site.
It's also a horribly designed webpage.


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## D N Ravenna

Kittysafe said:


> Ahhh wow, it took forever to load because of the photos, must be a slow site.
> It's also a horribly designed webpage.


And I had no problems. Let's focus on the topic of our desires.

;-)

Dan


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## Joseph4

Thanks for your reviews of the Hero pens. Excellent photos, very well done. I agree that Hero pens are great tools - depending on which year they are from. Apperently qc. was better before China's ”economic experiment”? 


Some things puzzles me a bit: How can they be ”the Hero boys” in 1962? I have understood that until 1966 it was the ”Huafu pen factory” ? Also looking at my current329 (old model) and my 616 (from the current production), I find the 329 to be of better finish and made from what appears to me as ”better”plastic – Maybe an old Huafu 329 was a cheap version of an old Huafu 616, but a new Hero 616 is a cheaper version of the older Hero 329? Confusing...


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## Seele

Joseph4,

Thanks for your appreciation, the pictures were taken pretty much off-the-cuff with a cheap and old camera, hence the severe distortions, but it's good enough I suppose.

Among Hero collectors - and those into other Chinese pens - most of them would pay extra for earlier products; it might be a belief that the quality of earlier ones are better, justified or not, but then collectors would want to get older examples anyway.

I call them the Hero boys just for convenience, even though I could be a lot more pedantic of course. The 329 and the re-make 329-2 are ostensibly identical but some researchers consider them to have some small differences too, and we are not talking about the 329 "New Type" which is actually quite a different beast altogether. Like I said, without contemporary documents it would be difficult to figure out the product hierarchy at any point in time; what I did was to evaluate the products themselves to interpolate the relative production costs. That said, there were unverified sources claiming that the 329 started out as a product positioned above the 616, but at the economic climate at the time I remain somewhat doubtful: a pen which was costlier than the 616 would not be more successful on the market than the 616, and especially to that magnitude. Comparing the caps: the 616 cap was - and still is - more labour-intensive to build than the 329 cap, especially when the 329 cap was made out of deep drawn aluminium. The new 329-2 apparently have steel caps in the same configuration as standard, however.


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## Joseph4

@Seele: Thank you for the quick reply.My interest in Hero pens stems from the fact, that they perform a lotbetter than my other pens and they cost considerably less. However myknowledge of the Hero history is very scarce, and the bits and piecesI can pick up on the net haven't been very helpful. So I'm hoping forsome enlightment here...
Wonder if I could persuade you to writean overview, when you have the time? 


About the 616: I thought that the 616was much later, considering the political climate in PRC in 1962 (thegreat leap foward had just failed). My idea was that a copy of thebest selling ”foreign” pen would not be seen as ”desirable”at this point?I imagined, they would prefer something that said”China” (like the 329) and not ”USA”? But as said my knowledgeis very sketchy on this one.


Kind regards
Joseph


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## Seele

Joseph4,

To be honest I am also wondering why a definitive product genealogy by Hero has not yet been written; there are occasion articles - even very detailed ones - on particular episodes in the firm's history; the other day I was reading one written by one of the company's directors on the joint project with Parker to build the 45, which ultimately did not come to fruition but spawned the Hero 800 and derivatives. If the genealogy (or company history) can be done at all, it would have to be done by someone with full access to the company archives - if it is still complete - and preferably with access to contemporary staff members to record their oral histories. In my position it would be quite impossible to do so.


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## D N Ravenna

Seele said:


> Joseph4,
> 
> To be honest I am also wondering why a definitive product genealogy by Hero has not yet been written; there are occasion articles - even very detailed ones - on particular episodes in the firm's history; the other day I was reading one written by one of the company's directors on the joint project with Parker to build the 45, which ultimately did not come to fruition but spawned the Hero 800 and derivatives. If the genealogy (or company history) can be done at all, it would have to be done by someone with full access to the company archives - if it is still complete - and preferably with access to contemporary staff members to record their oral histories. In my position it would be quite impossible to do so.


Well, we are not getting any younger! ;-) I was wondering if a Wiki-type approach would work? You know, have a sticky where info could be deposited. At some point, maybe all the info could be gathered and presented in a more or less formal manner.

Dan


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## tranceinside

Sweet! I had used them through out my schooling in India.. Got some classic ones in my store.. They are easily available at indian stationary stores... Though i dont use them anymore.. but love for them..reminds me of my old days..


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## Seele

Dan,

If a wiki-type community project to document the history of Hero - or for that matter, any firm within China, then it would have to be a project done within China itself using its language, so as to be closer to the primary source of information. Problem is that apparently there seems to be little interest in industrial history in that country, the lack of researchers who enjoy doing it for its own sake would be a major problem.

tranceinside,

It's interesting to know that they are still widely available in your neighbourhood stationers, they are new ones or old stock? I am also quite fascinated by Indian-made pens, there might be a bit of a cultural cringe there - like many countries - which induces one to think that imports are somehow inherently more desirable. It's a funny thing though: I started with Parkers and Montblancs, and nowadays more interested in ostensibly "lower-end" ones!


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