Esky HoneyBee King II

[tpheliflyer]

Hi everyone. I'm thinking of buying the King II because I think it looks absolutely awesome and people are saying it handles well. Eventually I think I'll replace the stock motor with a brushless such as:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ESKY-3900KV-BR...QQcmdZViewItem
One thing though, how will I go about replacing it? I'd like to know how the brushless motor affects the heli, ie affect on flight length, and would it be worth getting a heatsink aswell? In videos on YouTube, many people have also replaced the stock gyro, is this necessary?

One more thing. I've only flown my 4ch dragonfly before, so how can I learn how to control this 6ch machine?

[hawkman]

I have heard some positive things about the Heli you are interested in.

Brushless motors are superior to the brushed version...not sure why as I dont know much about electricity...but yes the fight time is improved and with LiPo batterys being a fairly new technology they compliment each other well.

I wouldnt worry about the gyro, the stock one will do the job well enough...of course you can fit what you want but the GY401 will probably outcost the heli especially if you get a decent servo with it like the 9254 digital one.

If I had such a heli and was keen to put something into it I would get a better radio. I would get a 'real' radio but you have to sit down and think what you want out of the hobby.

Channelwise? the 4 channel thing is the same in terms of control...the other channels are for power/pitch and gyro mode..chances are the gyro will be a two mode one...one will be heading hold and the other mode will have a gain setting that can be changed to suit how you want the tail to behave.

There are other heli out there, the Trex 450 series are all good...very good...but expect to pay the cash..you are dealing with a more 'serious' heli there...but one that flys well and has a popular following.

The Blade 400 has a good press...whatever you do keep away from the cheapy helis that have those awful tail rotor motors...they are pants in the lowest terms.

Have you got a simulator?

Rob

[tpheliflyer]

Thanks for your reply. I'm still a bit confused about how to go about upgrading to a brushless motor. Do I just remove the stock motor and put the brushless in its place or is it a more involved process?

I think the king II is an amazing heli for what you pay for it, and I don't think I'll be getting any more helis for a while, so I think the transmitter that comes with it will be good for me as it would be pointless getting a better radio just for one heli, well at least not for the basic flying I'll be doing with it.

Regarding simulators I just have FMS which I use with a joystick, and surprisingly it did help me with flying my 4ch heli. I don't want to fork out any cash on a simulator, but I might get a sim cable for my new King II transmitter if I can find out what setup will work with windows 98SE and FMS.

[hawkman]

You can buy a dummy transmitter with FMS from some places...for about 26 quid I think.

I used FMS for a very long time...not a bad sim...taught me a lot.

Get good on the sim, learn to hover and keep it in one place. learn to hover with the heli pointing all over the place...fly backwards, forwards, sideways....all ways!!!

you get out what you put in with a sim.

Rob

[tpheliflyer]

Thanks for your advice Rob. I can get one on ebay for less than £15 from China but I'm not sure if I should get mode 1 or 2. My current 4 channel heli is mode 1, but when I get my King II (which might not be so soon), I want that to be mode 2. What do you think?

[hawkman]

I would go mode 2 for sure. The majority of flyers use this mode.

It makes sense because the right stick is the cyclic and the left stick the collective/power and rudder.

If you make an extra purchase I would opt for an extra battery and a better charger than the one you might be getting with the heli...I say this because most package chargers will take up to 3 hrs or so to charge a single battery.

I better spec charger can get the job done in half the time...maybe even an hour.

I bought an '***** proof' one called a LI PO 4, its very simple to use and can be used with either mains or a car battery. You cant overcharge the batterys either.

Whenever you charge, place the batterys on something fireproof and dont leave alone...Lipo batterys are good, but mistreated/damaged or over charged or even over discharged they can get nasty.

Be careful of the cheap batterys too...they can be substandard and can let you down with loose wires etc.

Rob

[dasbeermeister]

Brushless motors are superior to the brushed version...not sure why as I dont know much about electricity...

Brushless motors are better because they are 3 phase AC motors, which are far more efficient than DC motors. A brushless motor uses rotating magnetic fields to spin the armature instead of pushing electricity through brushes to a commutator. If you want in depth geekery on ether motor I could go on for pages.

[vlaporte]

Honey Bee King2
I am a new heli flyer. I have flown fixed wing R/C for 25 years an am comfortable with aerobatic planes.
I learned on my “FMS” and “HeliSimRC” software (both free) with a $20 USB transmitter box from Esky (EK2-0905A-2).
I also learned a lot from my Esky Coco Lama v3 (EK1H-E012A-35) (coaxial double rotor heli).
I bought a Honey Bee King2, thinking that it would be a SNAP. Wow was I mistaken. It is much harder to fly. I burned out two standard brushed motors and finally installed a brush less motor (Esky and Esky 25A controller – EK5-0080). I also tried 3 gyros before I realized that my tail rotor control was too stiff. I had to drill larger the holes for the ball links to allow the tail to have full movement of blades. See this web page -
http://www.heliguy.com/Forum/possibl...ty-t14612.html

I retrospect I would have been better off to buy the ESky Belt CP RTF Kit $199. I think that the tail rotor problem and fix would be the same. Blade balancing is also very critical and the balancer from Heli-Max (HMXR4855) works great.
I like my Lipo Alarm (FS1196) from Flyingsport.com too, as it prevents my lipo batteries from being discharged to deep.
Of course, you could get a Align T-REX 450SA ARF Electric Mini Heli, which will avoid some of my difficulties but then you will also need to purchase a heli radio at extra cost.
If you plan to fly helis you have a real project ahead.

Luck,
Vince