A new look - Beeutiful !

[Stevespana]

The arrival of my Ufly got me thinking. How would that canopy look on the Bee?
Also changed the black skids for white skids from a K2 and painted the tail fin to match.

This is the result and I love it !







I also decided to do a few mods on the Ufly. Primarily because I didn't like the stick like skids. I got a little carried away and now have a "GurUflyBee"










Steve.

[944own]

that canopy looks sweet is that tail and tail rotor the one that comes with the dd tail from xtreme

[KeithT]

Wow Steve - looks fantastic!
What are the Bee blades?

[Stevespana]

Thanks guys,
In answer to your questions.
The DD tail motor and rotor are from the CP3. The fin is from a Trex250.
The blades are Superblades XP

Steve.

[johnnycat500]

Good looking heli's. Like how the xp blades droop. looks like a real heli. I have a question for you. I want to put a blade sr motor on my hbv2 but the pinion is different. The sr motor shaft is 2.15 mm but I need a pinion that size that will mesh with the v2 main gear...thanks

[Stevespana]

JC500,
I'm really sorry but I don't have an answer to your question. Worth asking some of the other guys on here though I think.
Good luck with your search.

Steve.

[johnnycat500]

ok thanks

[jedi391]

How would you compare the ufly to the Honey Bee? I have a similar set up to you, CP3 DD tail motor and superbladeXP's up top.

[Lynx.1677]

Woohoo that is one hot bee!

[KeithT]

Apart from the obvious good looks, have you tried the Superblades XP compared to the Xtreme Fibre re-inforced blades? (which I have at the moment)
Would be interested to know how they compare.
K

[Stevespana]

Keith,
I haven't done a direct flight comparison between the two sets of blades on the heli as yet. However, I do have some xtreme blades and will do a comparison and let you know. What I do know though is that the superblades are 6-8g lighter per pair and the bee is very stable ( relatively ) with them.

Steve.

[KeithT]

thanks Steve!
The weather has been so bad here lately, I got the ol' BeeV1 airworthy again yesterday and had a few flights in the garage. It's good to remind yourself how hard they are compared to ccpm every now & again
Cheers, Keith

[Stevespana]

Keith,
I wouldn't know about comparing the bee to a ccpm heli as I don't have one yet

Still pontificating about which to go for - HK450, CopterX ME,AE,SE ? Even considering the Interceptor 400 as another alternative.

Steve.

[KeithT]

Hi Steve - I went for a King3 as an intermiediate size/first ccpm - full stock version which is as cheap as they come to repair (which there is usually a lot of with my flying) Once I saw the difference, I went for the CX SEV2 from a HK supplier via eBay. It took 4 weeks to get here and wasn't a PROPER CopterX as no brand names stamped anywhere. The carbon fibre frame is good though and most of the other bits were ok. Considering it only cost £53 delivered, it was wirth it as you can pay that for just the frame. Had some fun choosing electrics and building through the winter - flew first time and so far, nothing at all adventurous as it is BIG and very scary and I need the weather to improve so I can get out into the wilderness with it. If I get it wrong it's gonna do a lot of damage in my garden, so at the moment it is UNDAMAGED
Only a matter of time though!
I'll be interested to hear what you decide, if you want any tips, send me a pm & I can list what I was advised to get, by the guys on the 450 froum who know.
Cheers, Keith

[Bugster]

Sweet looking helis Steve - nice one

[jedi391]

Hey Steve how does the Ufly compare with the Honey Bee with superblades? Which one do you think flies better?

[Stevespana]

jedi391,
In terms of hovering stability the Bee with Superblades is much better than the Ufly. However, this may be due to the Superblades more than enything else.

I've done a quick check and I think I can put a bee head on the Ufly. Then I can try the Ufly with the superblades for a more meaningful comparison.

I will report when I have the results.

Steve.

[Stevespana]

New Look Bee 2 + an update re the Ufly.

Just a brief note about the Ufly - mine sucks! After a couple of hovers to get it set up the tail servo wouldn't behave and no matter what adjustments I made to the receiver the servo arm would move from side to side causing awful tail wag which made the heli uncontrollable. Tried 3 different Hitec servos with the same result. I think the rx/gyro is faulty.

But now some good news. The main gear of the Ufly fits the Bee main shaft a treat. So, I've been experimenting further. I have rebuilt my defunct Guru-Z Neon frame with the Bee shaft and head and the Ufly main gear. Removed the complete tail boom assembly from the Ufly and did a trial fit in the Guru-Z frame. After just a little bit of filing of the lower bearing bracket the boom assembly slid in and the gears meshed nicely. So, in principle I think I can get all of the bits to work together.....to give me a Guru Bee with a shaft driven tail.

Will try to post a few pics showing the current situation.

Steve.

[Viet-Lama]

Heres my question Steve. Is it possible to use the UFly TT and UFly main gear on the Bee V2 frame? It would bee simple and cheap with cheap available parts unlike the Guru Zs frame and spares.

[Stevespana]

Hi Scot,

I'm not entirely sure to be honest. I agree it would be a much better solution if it could be done. In theory I think it might be possible but there is very little space above and below the main gear of the V2 frame to accomodate the increased depth of the Ufly main gear and boom.

I'm pretty sure some hacking of the V2 frame would be necessary. If I had a spare V2 frame I could be more specific - don't really want to disassemble my Bee to find out though because it's flying so well right now. I will do a closer visual inspection and feedback.

I do have to place a parts order in the next couple of days and as you can't have enough spares I may just add a V2 frame to the order.

Steve.

Just looked at this idea a bit more carefully and my conclusion is: It would be possible (just!) but it wouldn't be a simple job!
1. The V2 frame would need to be hacked directly ahead of the boom mount almost upto the main shaft. This would weaken it a fair bit but it could be beefed up afterwards.
2. The roll servo would need to be repositioned higher up the frame to accomodate the new boom.
3. The Ufly main gear will not locate in the correct position on the V2 main shaft because of the position of the lower bearing and the locating hole at the bottom of the main shaft. Would necessitate cutting the ufly tail gear centre section section from the main gear and then fixing it to the upperside of the Bee main gear.

Sorry if I am the bearer of bed news.

Steve.