kansasjayhawk

I bought a HB and I'm not sure whether to be upset about it or just embarrased that I can't fly it. I got the JR package from Century. I figured I should get nice radio set instead of the crappy generic kits. For some reason, I cannot get the thing to be consistent. Almost every time I spin up, it will drift in a new direction. I have securely mounted the servos so there is no slack and the servo horns have very little play. The ball links have been oiled and worked smooth. I took off the plastic shaft collar and used a set screw version to free up the swashplate. I can't figure it out. Also, I think my gyro may be screwy. I did some hand testing with it and I decided to mount it side ways in stead of how the directions described to mount it. It seemed to control the tail better.

I want to begin searching for upgrades. I think I need to replace all the elecs except the radio set. I have no idea what is good and where to find it. Also, I would like to replace all the mechanics up top. I have seen aluminum swashplates and shaft collars but what about the rotor mounts?

Am I going in the wrong direction by upgrading before I can fly? I feel like the better parts will increase its stability.

Thanks Guys
Paul

By the way, do any of you live near Kansas City? I want to find a flight club for local support.

tocano

Well you are not the only one. I broke 4 pair of blades before I could hover the whole battery pack. I found that upgrade on tail motor and hh gyro (gy240) to be the biggest help. If you have a solid tail with combination of more powerfull tail motor and hh gyro you basically only need to control the cyclic and throttle.
I feel that you don't need to go seperate esc or brushless motor. You can simply use the stock 370 motor and the stock mixerboard. It did work well for me but not before I changed the tail motor.
By the way I forgot to mention that I have 2 dragonfly (HB) but I messed up the first one while learning to hover. So now I only have one flying. I now have more flight time.
Good luck

Simbo

Don't be embarrased, these mini heli's are tough to learn on, the HB was my first RC aircraft, and it took a while for me to get it to hover.

It will drift bad at a inch or two, the GE just moves it all around, when you get use to controls, try a quick hop up to around 2 feet to get out of the GE, then see which way it drifts, then start to make small adjustments to the trims.

I only have Swashball and collar mod on mine, Plus E-tech batteries.

I whent from hover HB in garage, to some fun flying with my new Voyager E, when you get better you might want to think about a bigger heli, they are more stable, and handle winds better

tocano

Yes, I have a Corona and it's so much easier to hover. As a matter of fact I could only hover my HB for 10 seconds when I managed to hover the Corona the whole battery pack. Hovering Corona is easy flying is not. I flew it to a tree last Sunday then fell to the ground. No damage only bent boom and small crack on the canopy. I actually flew again after that. Tough Heli so far.

kansasjayhawk

Thanks guys. I'm actually making some good progress compared to my past trys. I turned the gyro so that the front side with the text and POT are facing the right of the heli. I think it was made wrong. It seems to have helped. I still have problems with the spinning. I have the trim all the way to the right so the tail rotor is at full and it still spins from the main rotor torque. Is my rear motor going bad? How do I know? Can I use a piccolo tail motor? I found one at the hobby store today. It's about the same diameter but its about twice as long (and heavier). Also, if I want to switch to separates, what will I need to do? Just two separate ESCs or what? I get confused on the electric current specs. Like if I use a 400 motor instead of the 370 will it blow the Hummingboard? Sorry for the slew of questions. Thanks again for your help.

Paul

tocano

What I would recommend is to change one thing at a time. I changed my tail motor, gyro, seperates esc, speed 300 on the same time and I had difficulties to identify problems with the new setup. I ended up going back to the stock setup and changed the component 1 by 1. This is my personal experience with modifying HB. Some people perhaps including yourself have better brain and can do it in one go.

You know when the tail motor is on the way out. Toward the end of the battery pack the tail spins more.

ozace

I have a collection of e-heli's and the only one stock is the H.B.
I think keeping it simple and cheap is much easier on the mind when learnig to fly. Once you start down the upgrade path the costs rise dramatically and the fear factor sets in.
My advice is learn to fly it stock. Once you a comfortable with it you can decide to get a collective pitch heli of some sort.

tocano

Yes, keep it simple if it works for you. I personally need the HH gyro to fly my HB.

flyboy45

Mine did the exact same thing and I've flown helis before! The very best thing you could do is make the swash plate collar upgrade. It's an absolute nite and day diffrence!! You'll have so much more control and it's the cheapest.