Stay away from the HBK 2

[supra6]

HBK2
Esky 3900 Brushless, 30A ESC
complete Esky CNC, top middle, bottom and tail
Extreme 43T belt
MicroHeli Tail Rotor, Bell Crank and Main Gear (all junk don't but from them)
HS-55's on the main rotor
HS 65 for the tail
Esky HH Gyro
Probably more but so mad now I can not recall
Total flying time less then 2 hours
Total work time well over 100
Current residence-------In the garbage
Well at least I can save the 2200mha/25C's for a real FUNCTIONING well enginered heli
Please people on this forum tell the truth, Esky HBK2 is a basic piece of junk, save your money and buy something that will actually work, it sufferes from poor enginering and design from the start and no amount of money, labor and creative thinking will ever make it anything more then a maintenance HOG, if this was not the truth then how come SOW MAY post on this thread with problems.
Extreme products and service was quite good infact the only glowing area in this terrible experience.
All the other suppliers and producers were cr--p stay away from them.
Off tomorrow to start all over again this time I'll atleast know what to look for.
Good luck to all the newbeeeees your going to need it and a credit card.

[damyxz]

I see your problem....you spent a lot of money on upgrades not knowing that it will benefit you or not. In it's stock form the little heli flies good and the secret to this is the setup,especially the tail part. As most RTF/ARF heli, this needs some attention to set up. No matter how expensive an upgrade you add, if it has not been set up right, it will not fly. The people I teach to fly are currently flying theirs in it's stock form(except for the HH gyro upgrade and the receiver replacement) and they have been flying 2X/ week mostly for abut 3-4 months now and they upgrade as they replace part due to wear and tear or crashes. Another thing, the 3900 KV motor you put there is not right for this size heli, too much head speed and torque for the tail rotor to keep up with. The 3100KV esky motor is the perfect match for this heli with an 11 tooth pinion. The extreme 43T system is only good to some extent, it will overspeed the tail rotor if you are not careful and any slight imbalance of the tail rotor system becomes amplified greatly because the TR speed has also increased beyond to where the heli was designed to withstand. Get it out of the garbage can and send it to me...I'll even send you money for postage. Man, do not expect any heli to come out of the box ready to fly without some minor tweaks. Have somebody teach you how to set up a heli and understand why and how each part of it works. Do not blame the heli blame the guy in the mirror venting out.

[Europa1]

I like mine. Cnc tail, HH gyro, Dx7, BL motor, 1500mah batts. Motor that comes with it is a total waste of metal and magnets. Mine died after about 7 flights. Stock tail was a little sloppy. Stock radio was O.K. but has no expo which I like on the twitchy little beast. I can't believe its only $150 complete. I personally would rather see the HH gyro and BL motor as a stock option for maybe $50 more. At $199 it would be a great buy with these upgrades. Replacement parts are cheap and plentiful too. I'd say you get your moneys worth out of it but agree it's not top quality. What can you expect for that kind of money?

[Akoustik]

I bought the Honeybee King II and have experienced some frustration with it as well.
The motor burned out on day 2, the receiver died the first week, the replacement receiver was DOA, I installed a Berg 7P receiver (love it) but then the transmitter failed one week later. Bought a JR6102 trans (love it too, great heli radio) and then the ESKY gyro failed. Replaced with a Futaba GY401.

Basically all the electronics failed one by one the first month. The one thing I will say is that the mechanicals have been very sound on mine and replacement parts are dirt cheap. At this point mine flies really well but if I would have known about the electonics I certainly would have bought a TREX base kit to begin with for a little more money and put the electronics I have now into it.

[Stump3r]

damxyz hit the nail right on the head. All heli's regardless of make it's all about setup and balance. You take the time to set her up perfect and you will have a great flier.
Electrics are always worth an upgrade however I fly everything with my DX7 and upgraded electrics, yes I'll spend more on electrics than the entire heli is worth. But in my opinion that's half the fun of this hobby, mod something to make it better!

[xrbcoronalogoflyer]

among my nitro and electric fleet, my hbk2 is one of my favorites - especially considering the low initial cost and affordable cost of repair parts...i highly recommend it to anyone who wants to upgrade from a coax or fp...with minimal upgrades and tuning, it flys pretty good...here's a vid of me and my mildly modified, plastic-headed hbk2...ken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnNR5Pc0aI8

[racin06]

I agree with you, Ken. If you haven't seen my video, I just maidened my HBK2 yesterday. This is my first CP heli, having flown the HBFP for 14 months. Though my maiden did end of in a mishap, which was my fault and not the heli's fault, the HBK2 flew great. It's all about setup and preparation. I set up my HBK2 in acordance with Finless Bob's CCPM videos and I also followed his Telebee gyro setup video. I followed everything to the final detail and I have a great flying HBK2. Here is my setup and video.

- E-Sky 3900KV Motor w/10T pinion
- Dynam 30A ESC
- ParkBEC
- Spektrum AR6100 receiver
- Hitec HS-55 servos on cyclic
- Hitec HS-50 servo on tail
- Telebee HH gyro
- Stock main/tail blades and head.
- Spektrum DX7 transmitter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjRzPLEsy7k

I think a few people spend too much money on upgrades and expect that purple metal to actually set up the helicopter for them. I also think that until you can actually fly a heli (mastered circuits, figure 8s, and all four hovering orientations), it's a waste of money to upgrade.

[damyxz]

Hey guys, replace the HB king2's tail rotor with the trex 450 SA tail rotor grips and hub(dual bearings), use the belt CP metal ball links and use either a K&B or a set of align "batman" blades. This improves tail authority by approx. 80%. The conversion eliminates all that slop on the tail system. Try it and you will like it. About 15 bucks in parts.

[JustPlaneChris]

He posted the same rant over on RCG, and met with much the same response. :shock:
I adore my King! I call mine a King XL, because I did a 20mm boom stretch and run 295mm blades (cut-down Align Pro woodies). At 475g AUW and powered by a JGF 400TH, it's quite the little fun machine. :YeaBaby:

[damyxz]

I think the HB cool blades are 290mm or so. You can use these too. I have an HB cool which is slightly bigger than the king 2 and I have flown it with 325's before in a pinch just doing circuits. no 3D in fear of boom strikes. I also think a set of align 315's will work on your stretched king 2.

[JustPlaneChris]

I could definitely use the Cool 290's, but the cut-down Align Pro woodies fly and track better than the Esky blades. If I could find a set of Cool 290 CF blades, I'd consider them. My boom stretch isn't quite long enough to safely run 315's for anything other than regular forward flight. Since I'm using my King XL as my "inverted trainer" I feel safer retaining positive clearance between main and tail blades!

[damyxz]

Look at BP hobbies website and lokk at the HB cool parts, I think they carry the CF blades for the cool. I remember my LHS getting it from there for me. Also if you can find a pair of urethane O-rings (I got mine from spare parts for my paintball gun),use these as dampeners and it will help quicken the roll and flip rate of your heli. I have been using the urethane O-rings for my trex 450's too. Since using urethane O-rings, I have not had a boom strike so far.

[Psicrest]

Hey guys, replace the HB king2's tail rotor with the trex 450 SA tail rotor grips and hub(dual bearings), use the belt CP metal ball links and use either a K&B or a set of align "batman" blades. This improves tail authority by approx. 80%. The conversion eliminates all that slop on the tail system. Try it and you will like it. About 15 bucks in parts.


do you know the parts number of the belt-cp metal ball links?. Im going to try your mod.

[damyxz]

I think it's EK1-0548 servo linkage rods but it comes with 4 ball links.

[BritOnTour]

Hey guys, replace the HB king2's tail rotor with the trex 450 SA tail rotor grips and hub(dual bearings), use the belt CP metal ball links and use either a K&B or a set of align "batman" blades. This improves tail authority by approx. 80%. The conversion eliminates all that slop on the tail system. Try it and you will like it. About 15 bucks in parts.

I'm having trouble finding these parts. can you point me in the right direction? I looked at the parts required for this thread, but the cost is over $30 + shipping. If your solution does a similar job, I'd like to give it a try.

Cheers

[damyxz]

Use these parts:
part # HS1176 (tail rotor hub set)
HS1074( ball end set)
just unscrew the original ball ends from the slider assembly, measure the length of the original ball end links from the center of the hole and cut the align ball end links to length. Total about 14 bucks.

[xrbcoronalogoflyer]

although it's a little more than you want to spend on improving your tail, i bought this part for $33 + shipping, and it has performed very well...ken

https://www.fxaeromodels.com//product_info.php?products_id=3610

btw, i test-flew my hbk2 this morning after a serious post-crash rebuild...i was mostly experimenting with the movie mode of my camera (setting the focus on 'infinity')...both worked out well...ken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNpghfYLucw

[JustPlaneChris]

Nice smooth flying, Ken! :thumbup:

[DierWolf]

Dont you just love those rants....... Bad workmen always blames the tool.

[Ber60]

Hey D is't this post someting for C5 :lol:

[WillJames]

He posted the same rant over on RCG, and met with much the same response. :shock:
I adore my King! I call mine a King XL, because I did a 20mm boom stretch and run 295mm blades (cut-down Align Pro woodies). At 475g AUW and powered by a JGF 400TH, it's quite the little fun machine. :YeaBaby:

I saw Chris fly his King at Ron Lund's Corpus event in about 10-15mph winds. I was very impressed. Chris that thing ROCKED. Me and Greg Alderman were like, man we gotta get a couple of those. My point is that they definitely CAN fly good. Chris made it look easy with his and the tail held great even in the strong wind.

[SCCreations]

I feel your pain supre. My hbk2 is just like yours...junk. Perhaps we got conterfeit versions?..lol
Congrats to those who have good ones, but from the post i've seen, it doesen't look like the "well working" ones, have many esky parts left on them!..lol
I'm looking at an unaffordable trex 450 se v2 now, but the hbk2 has put the fear of junk in me.

[DierWolf]

HBK2 is perfectly fine machine, if you dont know how to fly anything junk including the Rex... This is not a lama or Blade Cx2

[JustPlaneChris]

I saw Chris fly his King at Ron Lund's Corpus event in about 10-15mph winds. I was very impressed. Chris that thing ROCKED. Me and Greg Alderman were like, man we gotta get a couple of those. My point is that they definitely CAN fly good. Chris made it look easy with his and the tail held great even in the strong wind.Thanks Will! It's sure a fun little bird. Just an interesting note for all the folks who say the Telebee gyro is poop: That great tail holding Will mentions was delivered by (you guessed it) a Telebee gyro. And an HS-50 servo! :D

SCCreations: It's true that my King currently has a non-stock tailboom and tail assembly. However, even before I did the stretch it flew very well. It's all about setup and practice. As DierWolf hints, even the best helicopter will be "junk" if it isn't properly set up or flown.

[shizack]

I got my King used and bone-stock from someone who couldn't really fly. I have seen some of his pre-sale posts in the Esky forums elsewhere. He was asking the usual questions (cg, unstable, uncontrollable drift...).

Having had an HBFP, CP2 and an MX400, I already knew a good bit about heli setup. I used every bit of heli-knowhow I had on the King before I even spun it up.

Used, bone-stock, RTF King. The first time I ever spun it up and hovered, it was the smoothest, most stable, best heli I'd ever had. 'Til the motor died 5 days later. I had already ordered a brushless setup.

It's all in the setup. And research any heli you plan to buy before committing.