No no, I’m not talking about that HEROES TV series on Monday! It’s my old HERO brand fountain pen. Sad to say many students nowadays don’t use fountain pen or may not even know/seen one too!
I started using HERO fountain pen since Secondary school, think around Sec.1 or 2. Sometimes I got my fountain pen leaking, so my shirt pocket may be stained. The worst case was the ink bottle cap was not tighten properly thus my whole school bag was filled with the blue ink!
The HERO 336 Fountain Pen;
This is probably the most common fountain pen found here. It was released in 1968. The fountain pen probably costs about S$1.20 (I think)? This HERO pen resembles that of PARKER 51 (American brand).
The iridium nib tip was very tough and we like to use it as a dart. I can use it as a flying dart on the class table or chair. It’s fun playing with it, anyway, what other things can we played with at that time…
For those that have used the Hero fountain pen before, their refill system is probably most memorable;
Above photos credit : Chinapenking
When comes to refilling the pen, sometimes there will be a spill and we need those white blotting paper. Oh my son my not even seen one yet haha. Of course the other item that comes to mind when refilling is the ink bottle;
As seen on the packaging, this HERO brand ink and fountain pen was manufactured in Shanghai, China.
See the Chinese Tradmark below;
The side view of the box;
And the unique cap with the HERO embossed on it;
I wonder if I can still find this old HERO fountain pen at Sungei Road…
Times of My Life 
How come your HERO cover is golden colour? My was silver colour with sky blue base. To pump the ink, you unscrew the base and you find a kind of long rubber tube between 2 metal strips. You depress the metal strips and let go; ink will be sucked into the ink-well.
Actually my first fountain pen was a brand from ROTEX (if I can still remember the name). It had a turtle shell design and when you remove the cover, you can see a plastic ink well. You did not need to unscrew the base to pump the ink. All you needed to do was to turn the screw clockwise to pump in the ink. We first used fountain pen in Primary 5. The better-off people used MONBLAUNK (not sure of the spelling) or SHEFFERS
I used PARKER ink. Still remember there was blue-black colour, royal blue, black, green and red ink. We were not allowed to use red ink because the teacher used that colour to mark the books and write your red marks in the report card.
Then ball-point came into fashion. There was this BIC brand, blue cover and yellow base.
Great post! 😉
I use a fountain pen nearly every day, most recently a Pelikan M800. I had a nice Hero several years ago that was a Parker 51 knock-off.
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
Hi Peter,
I lost my own HERO fountain pen years ago, so photo was from a seller in ebay haha.
Hi Speedmaster,
Thanks. Hero fountain pen designs resembles those from Parker, you are right.
Thanks for this article. I had forgotten about the brand Hero. I recall switching to the Hero blue ink from the famous Quink brand by Parker. I liked the brighter and lighter colour of the Hero ink.
As for the pen, I too remember the long rubber tube Peter mentioned. Once it came of and created a mess.
And yes. I had totally forgotten about the blotting paper. I remember it was usually blue in colour.
You got blue blotting paper Chun See? Mine is white and I’ve not seen any colored ones. Sad that I didn’t manage to keep those pens and blotting paper except one bottle of empty HERO ink haha.
LKK – You used the fountain pen as a dart and after that, it still could be used for writing? Amazing!
Profkingsfield2004 – Yes, I think I had a Rotex (or Rotax?) before too. You turn the top of the pen to suck in ink.
As for BIC ballpoint pens, I saw them still selling in a stationery shop recently. And would you believe it – the pen still looked exactly the same as it was 50 years ago! Talking about that, I better go buy a few and keep for old time sake.
Blue blotting paper was for the science lab Chun See? Stationers sold the white type.
In primary school we used those fountain pens as a weapon – not to poke somebody but to squeeze ink at your opponent. It was a game to see how many ink spots could be found in one’s white shirt (school uniform). The more u had, you became the loser. What a game! Or maybe we were stupid fellows.
anybody know the game called “Hatam Bola”?
🙂
a few years ago.. i was searching around in sg for the pen.. but i couldnt find it anymore. till my friend went to shanghai bought 2 for me.
very smooth writing…:)
We called it Bola Hantam and I blogged about it here.
Yes Victor, we used to play dart with the fountain pen. But most of them were not working before using it as dart. Some classmates used the good ones to play but surprisingly it still worked!
The blue ones are litmus paper right Peter? Yep, I remembered it was called Hantam Bola but don’t quite know how to play.
Hi ic1978, I still thinking of getting one in Singapore…
I started using a fountain when I was in Sec. 1 in 1985. No one in my class, except me, was writing with a fountain pen. My first fountain pen was a HERO and it had a white metallic cover. Today, I still write with a HERO 330 fountain pen.
Over ten years ago, my friend bought for me in Singapore four HERO fountain pens. They were the last remaining stock in a stationery and the owner was very happy to get rid of them!
Right up to the time I left school in 1965 we were not allowed to use biro type pens and had to use a fountain pen and all notes were to be taken in pencil. I had either Parker or Waterman pens and used Quink that Chun See mentions or the slightly cheaper Stephens Ink. The Parkers always filled using a lift up lever on the outside body of the pen that squeezed the rubber tube whereas some of the Watermans were filled by unscrewing the outside cover to reveal a squeeze bar in a metal casing that held the rubber tube. None of the pens was ever infallible and boy proof and you could gaurantee that at some point you would have a leaky pen that coloured your shirt pocket blue/black. Fortunately, our amah always managed to get the ink stains out.
Talk of the different names of ink reminds of a song sung by Rugby players here in the UK, being a rugby song it is a little bit naughty but it goes something like this,
Mary from the mountain glen
Seduced herself with a fountain pen.
The pen it broke and the ink ran wild
She gave birth to a blue black child
Chorus
They called the b*st**d Stephen
They called the b*st**d Stephen
They called the b*st**d Stephen
Cos that was the name of the ink!
All I can say is that it was a good job it wasn’t Quink!
What an interesting song John.Come to think of it, I think I lost my Waterman pen too.
where can i get HERO and Pilot fountain pens now?
Hero fountain pens are available at Mustafa for $1.20. Plenty at the stationary counter!
Thanks Ger. I must look out for it next time I’m there.
Peter I did not know about the Hero pens! I come from England, and perhaps they were not marketed there. But, I notice that they have those little spikey nibs, that are half hidden in the barrel of the pen. I love that type and have now found the Waterman Carene to be amazing to write with.
I mention here in passing, as you might like to try it, if you have not done so already. Us fountain pen lovers must stick together!
Donni-De-Ville
Hey man, you know what? Hero 336 is available in Mustafa Shopping Centre in Singapore.
I just purchased one. Cost $1.20 each. It’s really a Parker 51 knock-off with the hooded nib.
I bought a Pilot fountain pen in Mustafa too. Only $7.00. All in Singapore dollars.
Hi Josh,
Good info. Maybe I would like to get some in future too.
Yes, I have one on my desk right now. An old worn thing, barely usable.
It’s still available.
Hey !!! Are you Chinese, nice to meet you. I’m Nhan and I’m Vietnamese, and yes, we used that exactly same Hero fountain pen here in Vietnam during elementary school and some students still use it all the way up to year 12!
They still sell heaps of these pens in Vietnam even at the moment 🙂
Where can I get the hero fountain pen ink in bottles in sgp ?
You can find Hero Ink at —
Big Bookshop
451 Clementi Ave 3
#03-307 S(120451)
Mon – Fri: 11am – 915pm
Sat Sun Ph: 1030am – 915pm
Take the MRT to Clementi station on the East-West line. It’s a 10-15 minute walk from the station.
More info on my FAQ btw 🙂
I used to write everything in fountain pen back in Junior High, around 1990 that was when my dad went back to Vietnam to revisited my other half of the family. He brought back like 100 pens just like that one. I remember i used to spread them out to my vietnamese friends.
Today i was thinking of getting one because it brought back memories…i google “vietnamese fountain pen”, so i land on your site…
you can buy the hero and parker and pilot fountain pens at mustafa shopping centre stationary dept level four, i bought two pens a hero 336 for 1.20 and a pilot m for 7.50. pelikan ink for 3.2o, both pens are worth it. great smooth writing.
Mi primera pluma fuente también fue una HERO “330” Series, la tengo desde los 15 años cuando un profesor de dibujo nos aconsejo utilizar estas herramientas para escritura, la conservo aún, funciona bien después de mas 23 años. Alterno su uso con Sheaffer e Inoxcrom
Anyone suggest me where i can find this Quality Hero pen in Dubai?
I know this website gives quality based posts and additional stuff,
is there any other web page which presents these kinds
of stuff in quality?