New Honey Bee King II

[mimir]

I just got my HBK2 yesterday. I have balanced and set the tracking on the blades. I was wondering if there was anything else that I should do before trying to fly.

This is my first ccpm heli and I don't want to rush in and then regret

[akent]

I think there are a few folks here that own that heli.

It sounds though that you did the essentials, and now you should just spool it up and see how it flies!
Kent

[mimir]

Well, I did just that earlier tonight. I have to say it was a handfull to keep in one spot. I think it needs more trim adjustments. Whenever I would get off the ground, it immediately starts sliding to the left. It could be that I just need more practice with it, but I am not sure. It has been a while since I flew, and my previous bird was a fixed pitch.

[ranben]

That sliding to the left is normal and caused by ground affects. Once you get up a couple of feet that will change. If you are not wanting to get up that high, you might try adjusting your trim tab a little to help compensate until you can get it up a couple of feet.

[mimir]

Yeah I was kinda afraid to take it too high today. Wind was up so I was under my car port.

[kiwi1080]

Remember to apply a bit of right aileron to account for that ground effect if you arent already. When you are a bit more comfortable give it more gas off the ground with the right aileron and that sucker should jump up nicely, soon it will be automatic Then just throttle back a little and adjust power as needed to keep it off the ground. You should be able to get that thing up and hovering at 55% throttle on a stock setup as long as the pitch of the blades is ok. Get a pitch gauge and then you can set it up depending on how you want to fly it. There is a ton of info about the different pitches online for different flying styles. When the Pitch is right you can get more flight time and hover with less power, it makes a huge difference. Have fun!!

P.S. If you havent already, check over the screws and perhaps locktite some of the more important frame ones, or all if you have the time and locktite to do it. Then you wont have to worry about stuff flying off when in the air, it can hurt believe me, I had a flybar paddle hit me, not pretty....

[mimir]

Thanks for the advice Kiwi1080. I will go over the screws and locktite them. I had checked some of them, but not all.

I had my first incident with it the other day and have to replace one of the ball links. When I am ordering that, I will get a pitch guage at the same time.

I have read that the stock motor is not the best in the world and I am thinking of going ahead and replacing it with a brushless and a brushless ESC. Should I wait until the stock one goes bad before changing?

[Solitaire]

I'd wait.
You just may have a motor that lasts a while, so make the best of it.

[mimir]

I just didn't want it to do anything bad while I was in the air. I have a hard enough time keeping control without mechanical problems being thrown in....

[Solitaire]

I hear you.
Haven't heard about them just stopping in mid air. I think they just die a slow death...but just not that slow. If you'd feel more comfortable with something more reliable, by all means, do it.

[McKrackin]

Watch for black dust inside the motor compartment and canopy.
If you get some,DX the motor quickly ;D

[willthethrill]

I also have a hbk2 and I found it unstable and hard to control. I ordered a 1500mah battery and found the heavier battery balanced the heli better and made it more stable.

will

[mimir]

Thanks for the head's up. I will keep an eye out for it. I am also going to get a brushless and esc on order for when it finally starts to die.

[19000rpm]

Whatever you do when you go brushless don't use the Belt CP combo. It haa a tendency to burn up the 20A ESC. The volcano 30Aand alpha 3500kv combo should work good or any 3500Kv with at least a 25A ESC. You might also want to get a Telebee gyro for it as well. It's much better than the stock.

Happy landings

[mimir]

I have been looking at the e-sky 3900, but found a 400X spec'd at 4000kv, 20 Amp current draw for $28.00.