Hobby King helis?

[RCModelReviews]

I'd be interested to hear from those who are flying the HK 450/500/600 helis.

How's the quality and how do they fly?

Any problems?

[upsdoc]

I am in the process of building one of the HK600GT helicopters. The airframe itself is solid. The carbon fiber looks good. My main and tail drive gears were very bad and I replaced them with Align gears.
I will not be using the stock canopy as it is very ugly and made out of plastic. Ordered a Fusono canopy. No issues with the head and tail assemblies. Decided to use Align landing gear struts. The stock struts were a bit soft. Will be going 12S on this one.

[beau0090_99]

I have a HK450 that I purchased last fall (09). I have only flown a coaxial, and I like it. I think the parts are just fine, but I have nothing to compare it to. I like the fact that I could put it together and get it flying for about $120 (Not including the radio).
As a beginner to CCPM, it is perfect.
Curtis

[kneedrag]

I have a Belt CP 450 from eSky and I brought a bunch of HK450's in as a group purchase. While I never got round to building mine from looking at the kit it definatly looks better built then the Belt CP. Not on the same level as a T-Rex but if you are going to dork something into the ground the HK450 will be a better cheaper option.

[mr.sneezy]

Bruce,

The 450's are very good IMHO, I have a 450 that started as a T-rex kit but now has morphed into mainly a HK-450 with some CopterX parts. The HK parts seem to be fine on the whole.

I also have a HK-500GT, and that was not so good. I changed out many parts to Align to fix quality issues. The small precision parts are the main problem, the frames and major plastic bits are fine.

Martin

[siang]

I had one that was brought over by Rob, crashed it. It flies very well but I got a crapy/faulty gyro that let go when I needed it to hold. Unfortunately it's the plastic version, I've change them to copterX metal head and tail, and got a proper gyro as well but yet to fly it.
I'd advice, get the metal one instead of the plastic.

[stevewashere]

Ive got the HK450 V2 metal version, Its a better heli than my Belt CP V2, most of the parts are cheaper even if you replace them with Align parts, (saves waiting for HK parts some times) Just getting my new Turnigy 9x sorted and I hope to have it sorted by the weekend will be interesting to see how it flys then.

[Fulg]

I'm currently building an HK-250GT. My first experience with HK kits was the HK-450 early last year, and in both cases the quality leaves a bit to be desired. You have to deal with QC and minor tolerance issues that simply don't happen with brand-name kits like Align. If you are prepared to deal with those, then they are certainly great value for the money. I would not recommend HK kits to a beginner (at least not one without a "mentor" on hand), because the money saved is exchanged for a more complicated build. Broken parts and weak/stripped screws are common, and some HK parts can be unsafe to fly with (e.g. the feathering shaft on the HK-450).

On the other hand, at that price you can buy 2-3 kits to get a complete set of good parts, you'll have plenty of spares and still spend much less than the price of a single Align kit. Once built, they are great flyers, and are a lot easier on the wallet when you crash them. I bought my HK helis precisely to practice flying, because they are cheap to repair. If you bent the frame or the flybar on your HK, you can just straighten it out manually as best you can, and be back up in the air quicker. I would not risk such "half-repairs" on my more expensive helis. Many of the Align parts will work in the HK version of the heli, you can upgrade to better quality parts where it matters, and as the budget permits.

One notable difference is in the sound they make. I think Align helicopters make an amazing sound as they spool up, and HK helis have a noticeable "grind" in their sound. I don't know what causes this remarkable difference (bearing quality perhaps?), but it's quite obvious. Anyway, I doubt most people care how their heli sounds as long as it flies correctly

Cheers,
Ben.

[siang]

Have anyone tried the torque tube version of the HK 450 (HK450TT)? I've been thinking of getting 2 of those, one for my mate, so we can have hell of stick time with them without worrying about $$$ spend on crash repair as to compare to 50 size. I noticed the HK450TT price is higher than the HK500 which is kind of odd and make me wonder why. The HK450TT is out of stock atm, hopefully someone can share some info here till the stock come back on b4 my order. Also has anyone tried the HK electronics, motor/servos/esc/gyro? How reliable are them, esp the gyro and the tail servos, hate meddling with wondering tail, lol.

[Tarasdad]

Bruce, quite a few folks at another forum I frequent are flying the HK helis and are quite happy with them. I can provide the forum link if you like?