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| E-SKY honey bee king 2 |
Average Rating: 7 |
Feb 5, 2008
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Reviewed By: scottdiver690
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Join Date: Feb 5, 2008
Location:
Total Reviews: 2
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Rating: 9 out of 10
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| My third heli, after E-flite CX-2 and CP-Pro, i decided that i wanted to have a tail driven rotor and the price was right. I didnt expect Align quality from the price of this kit ( chinese made) but its ok, the main thing is that this heli flies very nice, cyclic is still pretty hot but its so much more stable than a micro heli has a right to be. The standard brushed motor is rubbish and gets very hot and fortunately it burnt out at just the right time as i had upgraded to brushless power with a castle speed control. A very worthwhile upgrade, now it just needs more powerful batteries. I havent put any bling on this heli, just brushless power and lots of flight time, a far wiser buy than the CP pro and even though the kit is not top quality nothing has fallen off or worn out apart from the brushed motor, a nice heli. |
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• belt driven tail rotor feels quite locked in
• fairly stable for a micro heli
• price, an absolulte bargain
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• original motor doesnt last long
• very power hungry tail
• quality isnt amazing but neither is the price sky high
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Feb 21, 2008
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Reviewed By: HBK2Flyer
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Join Date: Feb 21, 2008
Location:
Total Reviews: 1
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Rating: 5 out of 10
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This is the heli that got me hooked. The initial price fit my budget. The King 2 is affordable. However there are hidden costs such as an insufficient brushed motor, poor center of gravity, mal-designed tail slider, and weak frame support behind the motor mount.
In the process of discovering and correcting these issues I managed to learn a heck of alot about model helicopters. So I do have to give the King II credit for that.
Essential upgrades I made include an Esky 3800 brushless motor, 25A Esky ESC, an 1800mAh Parkzone Lipo battery pack, 4 TowerPro SG90 servos, and a Telebee 302 HH gyro. A good Lipo charger such as the Cellpro 4s rounded out my kit. I also sprung for a MicroHeli CNC swashplate. By this point I had quite a few parts to throw away from the original box, and had lightened my wallet quite a bit.
Essential modifications included drilling out the tail slider holes to reduce binding of the control links, adding a 43T tail pulley to improve rudder response, fitting stronger main gear from an E-Flight Blade400, and adding home brewed brackets to support the frame between the shaft and motor mount.
After learning to fly with this, it soon become apparent that I needed a better transmitter as well. I found a used JR 8103H and Rx and am still happy as a cat about that.
Had I known better, I would have started out with a good starter transmitter such as a Futaba 6EXH-PCM , bought a King II body kit, and built it up from there.
The head apparatus of the King II has an over-slung flybar which is apparently more responsive than under-slung, but not exactly what a beginner needs. The components all wiggle a bit which adds up to quite a bit of slop in the controls.
A five or ten pack of wooden blade sets, some fly bars, a main shaft and a control arm set are nice spares to have on hand.
I had a lot of fun learning to hover and fly about with this heli. I have since replaced the head with a trex 450 style head and she now flies like a dream. Like a T-rex 300 or something. With the 1800mAh Lipo I get about 12 minutes of fun flying.
But getting to this point did not come without a price. I am sure I have spend at least 3 to 4 times the initial cost of the heli, but it has been eduacational. Yea, that's it!
Out of the box I would rate it a 1. After all my upgrades and modifications I think a 9. So my final rating is somewhat worthless. It is an average. |
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• 12+ minutes of fun flying time with a 1800mAh Lipo
• Will force you to learn all about model helicopters. Re-assembly required!
• Belt driven tail.
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• Poor frame support behind the motor mount.
• Binding tail slider.
• Worthless stock motor/ESC/Lipo combo
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Sep 24, 2008
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Reviewed By: Tommyjoking
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Join Date: Sep 24, 2008
Location:
Total Reviews: 1
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Rating: 7 out of 10
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I am a novice with 8 mos experience, the first 5 of which was spent mostly in repair and little in flying time lol. This review is for a 2008 Esky Honeybee King 2 RTF.
If you want to try a cp heli on a tight budget or you want a micro size for the backyard then the King 2 is the ticket. This heli is a great performer for its price range and also is quite durable and cheap to maintain. For initial startup costs a 25-30 amp esc and brushless motor are really a given on this heli. The stock motor and esc are basically junk so I suggest you ebay that stuff or toss it. For reference: I am running an elf 30a esc and an elf 4200 with an 11t pinion and a telebee HH with ATV gyro. The elf 4200 can be had for $12 under the brand name mystery BTW.
Out of the box the heli is fully assembled and was adjusted well except for blade tracking. Put the included AA batts in the tx charge the 1000mah lipo (included charger) and go fly!
Radio gear: The 6 ch TX has servo reversing for aileron, elevator, throttle, and rudder. It also has a hover/P.I.T and P.I.T trim knob which allow for adjustment of total collective/cyclic travel and pitch centerpoint. Of course the TX has an idle up and normal throttle switch on the top left. Only issue with the tx is the battery cover is cheesy and falls off easily. The RX is small and light with 6 channel slots and a 7th "B" channel. It will allow the use of a heading hold gyro.
The heli itself has a sturdy fiberglass canopy on a knighthead + grommet arrangement. The stock canopy does feature some trick screen to allow for better cooling around the motor. The frame is plastic with a good layout for rx and battery tray, the motor mounts upside down under the canopy. Mounting varying sizes of motors could be problematic. One thing the frame lacks is a suitable mount for the esc, the stock one is zip tied under the skids, however there is room for an added mount (off a frame ledge) under the canopy. The head is all plastic, utilizing brass bushings for washout pivots. Speaking of the washout pivots, the screws are WAY too short, longer screws and lithium grease are a must. One very nice thing is the entire head slips off the shaft with removal of one bolt and nut. The tailboom is sturdy and well supported and is driven by a belt with plastic pulleys on mainshaft and tail gearbox. The tailslider does have a bearing in it. The skid struts are plastic with aluminum skids and antenna tube, rather narrow skids but adequate and fairly strong.
Flying the King 2: With a headspeed somewhere between 2300-2600 (cheap motor folks) and 10 degrees of pitch travel with stock blades the King will lift off softly with surprising control. I would not describe the collective response as mushy but I would say its soft and easily manageable especially for a micro. Same for cyclic response, there is responsiveness and performance in there but it is forgiving of abrupt thumbs. The head is plastic, it has some slop but holding a dead nut hover in good conditions takes little effort. The tail has limited power but is more then enough for sport flying. However the stock rate gyro is adequate at best, tail drifting and being very much at the will of any wind are the norm. I replaced the stock gyro with a Telebee HH and that did wonders for the tail staying VERY solid even in 15mph gusts. FF speed is amazing...this heli will move at a surprising rate, however, it likes to nose dip a bit and adding collective in prudent amounts is necessary. Pulling to a stop the King likes to gain altitude quite a bit but its easily managed if in 3d/idle up mode. The King can move aggressively and with speed but it takes somewhat aggressive thumbs to kick it into that mode...great for a beginner. The King is perfectly capable (with a proper motor and gearing) to do light aerobatics, flips, rolls and loops even with the stock blades {please do this at a reasonable altitude}. The stock esky (digital 508) servos do a great job, however I had a serious failure of one cyclic servo motor backing off the first gear. This can be solved with a .060-.080 shim placed behind the motor in the back cover. Other then that the stock servos have 40+ flights with no issues. The TX/RX seems to have good park flyer range (over 50yds) with no problems except 3 glitches in hover with the servos dropping collective and returning. Overall the heli is very forgiving for a CP and easy to fly. One somewhat major issue of the King 2 is its sensitivity to weight. Overall agility has a significant difference between a 1000mah pack and a 1500...but the bigger packs do a wonder for making the King handle wind better. The king is a small heli so it does not handle wind very well, but in comparison to others I have flown in its class, it is very capable of handling 10 mph winds no problem.
Reliability/durability: The king seems to be a very tough little heli. Two crashes so far: One ditch into thick grass from 8 ft. One Crash from 30 ft at high speed....results in nothing more then replaced main blades, not even a broken canopy. The King head seems to like to come apart under duress rather then break apart...I expected bent feathering shafts and main shaft but they are still true....maybe I am lucky or maybe that head slop helps the heli survive....you decide. After 40 flights + 2 crashes I have replaced blades, the belt and main gear thats it.
Overall opinion: I think even a jaded long time heli pilot would enjoy the King 2. Its a fun heli that has good response and capability and its cheap to fly. For someone looking for that FIRST CP without laying out $400 to get it airborne its almost a no brainer. I will get bigger, higher performance helis...but I will always have room in my house for this little jewel. |
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• RTF cost is very low
• Durabilty and parts avaliabilty (online)
• Fun to fly and good price vs. performance
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• Stock Gyro is very weak
• Brushless ESC and Motor are absolutely neccessary.
• No LHS support whatsoever.
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