Hobby King helis?

Talk about helicopter airframes, rotors, heads etc.

Re: Hobby King helis?

Postby vfrjohn » Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:15 pm

Mine is a HK450GT V2. It came with metal head and swash, carbon frame. $57 before shipping, if I remember.

Caveat: The following opinions are solely mine - no one with any experience has seen my heli, and I'm a hovering-only beginner at this point.

It went together well (precisely as shown in the Trex 450SEV2 manual). I would say it came 70% assembled - all the little fiddly parts already done.
I didn't strip any screw heads, having read all the comments about how weak they seem to be. The screws in most of the pre-assembled parts had NO thread lock.
By the way, this model has the newer 4mm feathering shaft.

Components were all from HK: Turnigy Typhoon. Turnigy 9e servos all round. HK 501 gyro. Towerpro ESC.
All seem to work well for me.

I've crashed it 3 times, and now have some Align parts - main shaft, feathering shaft, main rotor gear, tail shaft. New servos - HXT900 from HK.
I found the HK main and feathering shafts to be pretty weak (soft). (But, when you hit something solid with the rotor, the Align shaft will bend, too!)
The shaft of the Typhoon motor broke in one of the crashes. Also stripped the plastic gears on two of the servos. But they are so inexpensive as to be almost disposable items.

How does it fly? Well, I don't really know! I think it flies pretty well, as much as I can tell by my very limited experience and watching some learner videos.

Some day, I hope to get to a flying field where a real pilot can try it out and give me an evaluation...

I would not hesitate to recommend HK as a source. Just read the customer comments about the items you are considering, and consider that when you make your choices. Ignore the fact that EVERY item in their inventory is rated 5 crowns!!

HK seems to be getting more and more popular, bigger, and busier. This means things go out of stock frequently, and can take weeks to become available again. (I waited 6 weeks for my Turnigy 9X radio - but, hey, didn't Bruce say it was cheap?? :) (I like it a lot.)

Be aware that "warranty" means you ship it (2-3 weeks) back to them at your (non-trivial) expense, and IF they consider your claim valid they eventually(weeks? months?) ship you (another 2-3 weeks) a replacement. Usually, it is cheaper, faster and less aggravating to simply buy a replacement. Face it: a certain amount of QC fallout is just part of buying things at very low cost!

I like my HK450GT.
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Re: Hobby King helis?

Postby MajorTom » Mon Sep 13, 2010 10:43 pm

Just got my first of 2 assembled! Nice kit, however...
Both kits have VERY poorly machined tail drive sprockets (all other machining was good where it mattered), and one of the main gear assemblies has a very warped tail drive gear (wobbles up,dn 3+ mm!). BUT, for 28 bucks (+shipping lol) each, not bad. I am not going to fly it yet, I don't trust the tail at all. When I strapped it to my bench and spooled it up, the tail would wag on all but the very lowest gain setting.

So I guess it's either go make my own replacement in the shop (could, but probably won't). Or, buy the genuine article Align part. Any suggestions as to who makes a better part for less money than Align, but better quality than HK?

Would I buy another... You bet!!!

*Edit*
Forgot to mention, they were the basic HK-450 V2's for 27.99
And also, the blades in this kit are utter crap, dangerous even (maybe exaggerating, but they suck)! So throw in an order of any other kind of 325mm blades if you buy one!
MajorTom
 
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Re: Hobby King helis?

Postby Rob2160 » Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:14 am

Hey Bruce..

I only just saw this thread..

Hobbyking Helis.. they are absolutely AWESOME Value.

The stock blades that come in the kit are very average, but Hobbyking sell awesome carbon fibre blades for under $10..

I have carbons on two of mine..

I have built 3 now.. if you take your time, locktite all metal on metal screws, and use Foam safe CA on all metal to plastic / Carbon Fibre then you won't have a problem.. Mine are..

A V2

A 450 GT - Very strong and I run it at 3300 rpm head speed with no problem.. its my favourite for aerobatics and inverted practice..

A 450 Pro Torque tube.. Very smooth flying and in operation. Here is a picture of all 3.. with a Blade SR in the foreground for size comparison

Image

I could rave for hours how great these are but I do that all the time over on rcuniverse.com

I have over 400 combined flights on my 3 helis and not a single quality issue.. they are running smooth and strong..

in a nutshell.. let these videos speak for themselves.. they are all my HK Helis.. I have just ordered a second 450 Pro and a 500 CMT...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DRv4Wz-T4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9X0rYnHEDY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp1SFDkIIBo

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

Best value for money on the market for helis..

I just bought two of their most basic (bare bones) kits.. $9.99.. They arrived today and are pretty good.. lots of plastic in the head but that should be fine.. they are just going to be trainers for my friends.

Link here... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11446
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Re: Hobby King helis?

Postby SimJen » Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:06 am

i just noticed this thread too, they are excellent heli's for the money thats for sure!
See my blog in my sig for my build.
my clone build blog including setup tips for the Turnigy 9x
http://rcheli-blog.blogspot.com/
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Location: Cambridge NZ

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