Esky D550 - the King is Back!

[exblade]

Hi Guys,

Check out what I stumbled on at XHeli:



http://www.xheli.com/eskyheli-004009-d550-3g-bnf.html

A flybarless, receiver and fbl controller ready King 3!!!

The price seems a bit steep, but hey, at least they are still in the game!

BTW, the Belt CP is back as the D700 both flybarless as above and RTF with a new Esky radio and flybar.

Throw a CopterX CX-3X1000 fbl controller and an Orange receiver on the D550 and you are in the air (at least temporarily) for about $200 if you already have a radio.

I hope it does well enough to keep the parts out there for our older stuff!

Wahoo!

Terry

[likeakite]

The main blades are shorter than a K-3 but some of the basic specs like height, weight,width, gear ratios, and motor size are close to a stock K-3/4.

Hope somebody gets one and posts their opinions.

[exblade]

Hi Kite,

Ya, I missed the blade length, but it must be a typo. They are actually 245's and the main shaft is 4mm, so smaller, like a CP3. There is a very detailed review over on Run Ryder for those interested.

http://rc.runryder.com/helicopter/t722260p1/

Terry

[BentRotor]

I thought Esky factory was closed???

[abbywed]

Wow that is a nice bit-of-kit. Shame about the price but I am sure that will change in time.

I like the new frame design with the battery tray on the front instead of sliding the battery into the frame, maybe it could accommodate a few odd sized lipo's

The canopy is UGLY and why "Blue" that just makes it harder to see against a blue sky and plastic blade grips and tail

That said I am very impressed with the FBL system, it looks very sleek

Nice find Terry, Thanks for keeping us all in the loop with this new product. My King 3 might live long and prosper after all. hehe

Here is a link for King 3 parts that I still use from time to time.

http://www.helipal.com/index.php?cPa...sort=5a&page=1

[shahram72]

So this is or isn't the same frame as the king. Would be nice to have an FBL King 4 after I crash it!

[TheKingPhisher]

Xheli has the larger D700 3G for only $159 so it's actually cheaper than the smaller D550. I have two of the D700s btw haven't flown them yet...still trying to decide on a FBL controller. It feels really smooth when I rotate the head by hand and the servos when I hooked up a receiver for testing servo travel/direction.

[TheKingPhisher]

With a small modification the Belt CP-X canopies fit as well..slightly tight though so you have to make sure your battery is centered on the sloped frame.

[exblade]

If these come back in stock, try one:

http://www.xheli.com/60p-dy-2010-3gs-gyro.html

You can upgrade the software to Tarot ZYX 4.0 and follow all the setup guides for the TAROT. I have quite a few CX3X-1000 CopterX units that also upgraded to ZYX. They fly pretty well. One of my King 2's is on the CX-ZYX and flies very well. Analog servos work fine. Or just get a Tarot. You might also try one of the Beast Clones. I have one but have not tried it yet. It is going on my other King 2 when I get around to it. It has a flybar and a Spartan on it now. I also have one of the fbls who shall not be named (fubamort). I only wish i could get more of those. BTW, do not name it on helifreak or you will be hauled off.

Let us know how the new Esky's fly.

Enjoy.

[TheKingPhisher]

Hey thanks for the info and heads up. That gyro is a bargain. Anyway where do you usually fly in MD? Maybe we could meet up sometime. Anyway it's a really nice package, brushless and comes with balance charger and battery, Even though the frame is plastic, it looks and feels very high quality.

[exblade]

Wow, you are right that looks real nice. I especially like the tail weights and blades.

What radio will you use? For most fbl controllers, the mixing is in the heli, so you use 1 servo 90 Deg. swash type. Will that esky do that?

BTW, I am down by DC in Bethesda and fly at a few schools and a field. Not at an RC club.

[radu7]

Originally Posted by TheKingPhisher

Hey thanks for the info and heads up. That gyro is a bargain. Anyway where do you usually fly in MD? Maybe we could meet up sometime. Anyway it's a really nice package, brushless and comes with balance charger and battery, Even though the frame is plastic, it looks and feels very high quality.

The D700 3G for me so far has been a great buy. I'm running mine with a HB800 (which I later found out is a BeastX V1 'clone') for the FBL unit and a FlySky TH9X Tx with the smaller 6ch Rx which fits nicely between the frames under the gyro tray and it flies great, so I'm sure it would fly fine with the Dynam/Tarot FBL unit as well. I've got over 100 flights on it so far and for sport flying and some light-medium 3d it does great. Only issue I had was that it is tail heavy with the stock battery and the stock canopy doesn't allow the battery to be forward enough to get the CoG perfect. Two easy fixes are to get a Blade 450 3d canopy (like the red/white 'Blaze' one) and make new mounting holes in it as it won't fit with the holes that are pre-punched. Or you can take four quarters and strap them as far forward on the end of the battery as you can and it will be perfect. It flies OK even if you leave it tail-heavy, but I just like to get it balanced as I think it just flies better if the CoG is good.

I will say that I haven't flown it with the stock blades though. I put on some inexpensive fiberglass ones when I was testing and it had a cyclic wobble. I put some Edge FBL and then some Rail FBL blades on the wobble disappeared and those flew so well I never bothered putting the stock ones back on and stuck with the Rail 326. I checked the CoG on the stock blades and they seem to be weighted/balanced more like a flybar blade so figured they wouldn't fly any better than the fiberglass ones I tried. I could be very wrong about that though and may give the stock blades a try this weekend just to see.

I think you're gonna like this heli a lot. How do you like the Esky Twinstar 3g you have there?

[TheKingPhisher]

Originally Posted by exblade

Wow, you are right that looks real nice. I especially like the tail weights and blades.

What radio will you use? For most fbl controllers, the mixing is in the heli, so you use 1 servo 90 Deg. swash type. Will that esky do that?

BTW, I am down by DC in Bethesda and fly at a few schools and a field. Not at an RC club.

I think Esky did a fantastic good job overhauling their lineup for 2012. Very nice fully programmable 2.4GHz multi-model radio with backlit LCD and quick navigation user interface. The LCD program setting module is completey removable and works on it's own..just need USB port to power it. Also has a built-in SD card slot though I'm not sure what it's for but it's pretty cool.The radio comes with its own lipo battery and is charged inside the transmitter and doesn't have any wires. Finally you could use the radio wirelessly with a simulator via a USB adapter for PC..how cool is that?




BTW the radio has settings for either 120 or 90 degree swash types. Also this radio is bundled with both the RTF flybarred D700 3D as well as the flybarless D700 3G. In addition to the new radio they have a new all in one FBL controller/receiver that works with a satellite rx! That combo is actually used in the Twinstar. With that said, I will be using my Futaba with the Esky D700 initially. Right now I'm only using the Esky transmitter with the Twinstar 3G but in the future I would like to use the Esky radio with my D700s just to keep it in the Esky family.



And I agree the stock carbon main blades are very nice looking with the Esky logo. Also the tail weights show Esky did their homework when fine tuning the design. I also like the carbon tail control rod....you don't see those stock on many 450 helis in this price range.

[TheKingPhisher]

Originally Posted by radu7

The D700 3G for me so far has been a great buy. I'm running mine with a HB800 (which I later found out is a BeastX V1 'clone') for the FBL unit and a FlySky TH9X Tx with the smaller 6ch Rx which fits nicely between the frames under the gyro tray and it flies great, so I'm sure it would fly fine with the Dynam/Tarot FBL unit as well. I've got over 100 flights on it so far and for sport flying and some light-medium 3d it does great. Only issue I had was that it is tail heavy with the stock battery and the stock canopy doesn't allow the battery to be forward enough to get the CoG perfect. Two easy fixes are to get a Blade 450 3d canopy (like the red/white 'Blaze' one) and make new mounting holes in it as it won't fit with the holes that are pre-punched. Or you can take four quarters and strap them as far forward on the end of the battery as you can and it will be perfect. It flies OK even if you leave it tail-heavy, but I just like to get it balanced as I think it just flies better if the CoG is good.

I will say that I haven't flown it with the stock blades though. I put on some inexpensive fiberglass ones when I was testing and it had a cyclic wobble. I put some Edge FBL and then some Rail FBL blades on the wobble disappeared and those flew so well I never bothered putting the stock ones back on and stuck with the Rail 326. I checked the CoG on the stock blades and they seem to be weighted/balanced more like a flybar blade so figured they wouldn't fly any better than the fiberglass ones I tried. I could be very wrong about that though and may give the stock blades a try this weekend just to see.

I think you're gonna like this heli a lot. How do you like the Esky Twinstar 3g you have there?

Thank you for posting about your experience with the D700 3G. NIce to hear I'm not the only one who has purchased it. I just received a Bigaole FBL controller which I've also heard is also a BeastX V1 'clone'. Also even without the weight of the FBL controller and receiver installed I noticed it's already tail heavy when I lifted it up by the head button. I guess this means I could use a slightly larger battery in the future to make it more balanced. I have Turnigy Nanotech batteries that are slightly heavier than the stock one. Also I prefer not to use ballast (dead weight) since it makes the heli heavier with no added flight time. Anyway I just cannot wait to get this bird up in the air! Hopefully this weekend...only one day away!

As for the stock blades I think they should be ok, they are designed for this FBL heli. The D700 3D uses a different stock blade since it's flybarred. If you're curious then there's only way to find out haha. I'll be flying with the stock blades unless they turn out to be a poor performance item. With regards to the Twinstar 3G...sadly I haven't had time to fine tune the settings and gyro and since it's a 3 blade head I need to get familiar with its flight characteristics since I've never flown a 3 bladed heli before. Also the head seems to be a custom floating type..ie the blades are free to flap up/down independent of one another.

[radu7]

Originally Posted by TheKingPhisher

Thank you for posting about your experience with the D700 3G. NIce to hear I'm not the only one who has purchased it. I just received a Bigaole FBL controller which I've also heard is also a BeastX V1 'clone'. Also even without the weight of the FBL controller and receiver installed I noticed it's already tail heavy when I lifted it up by the head button. I guess this means I could use a slightly larger battery in the future to make it more balanced. I have Turnigy Nanotech batteries that are slightly heavier than the stock one. Also I prefer not to use ballast (dead weight) since it makes the heli heavier with no added flight time. Anyway I just cannot wait to get this bird up in the air! Hopefully this weekend...only one day away!

The HB800 (Hobbymate) FBL I believe is just a rebadged Bigaole so you should be very happy with that one. Setup was a breeze and it has a very 'locked in' feeling without being too robotic. To me it flies just like a FBL 450 in a sim. As for batteries it balances out perfect with GensAce 65C 2200 packs. I did try the ballast thing and it worked fine with no noticeable loss of flight time. Though I only fly my packs down to 3.7 under load so that when I land and they sit for a minute they are pretty much a a nice storage voltage.

Good luck on your maiden! Let us know how it goes. I hope to get half a dozen or so flights in myself this weekend if I don't get rained out.

[TheKingPhisher]

Thanks I'm going to install the FBL unit tomorrow for a test flight. I had planned on installing it after work today but stupid me locked myself out of the house so had to wait until 8:30pm to get inside.

I think I'll also install the simulator I purchased a month ago...too much procrastinating...lol.

Happy flying.

[TheKingPhisher]

I did another bonehead move...I cut the double sided mounting tape/foam to size to fit the gyro...then I read in the instructions saying Do No Cut it down to size.

So I just ordered some BeastX mounting tape but have to wait for it to arrive to remount the gyro.

Anyway I did get a chance to spool it up with the stock carbon fiber blades. I'm happy to say it doesn't wobble...it only wobbles during initial startup which is normal I guess because of the torque, but once it's around 10% throttle there's no more wobble.

[radu7]

Sorry about the gyro tape issue. If you don't want to wait for the tape you ordered to arrive you could get a small roll of the 3M 4010 double-sided tape (it is a clear almost 'gel-like' tape) or the grey 3M 4011 that most people swear by over the stock tape for the BeastX. I've got some of it, but haven't tried yet as I'm using the 3M black mounting pad that comes with a Tarot ZYX-S gyro and it seems just fine too.

As for that wobble, the one I'm speaking of you would only see in flight. I get that same quick spool-up shake that you saw that results from everything resonating as the rotor gets up to speed. Once you get it up in the air put it in a stationary hover (it pretty much hovers hands free for me) and watch the skids to see if you see a wobble almost as if the heli can't find a stable balance point. If you do see a wobble in hover then lowering the gain on pot 1 on the FBL controller can help. For me switching to FBL specific blades did the trick. Granted, I never tried the stock blades, but when comparing their cg to the Rail or Edge blades they seemed to be weighted more toward the blade root like flybarred blades. I flew six packs in mine this past weekend, but it was very windy so I left the Rail 326's on the whole time. I'll wait for a calm day to try the stock blades since I want to see how they do without any wind first.

Hope you get the D700 in the air soon!

[TheKingPhisher]

I was finally able to complete the programming and setup of the Bigaole FBL gyro and for use with my transmitter. Right now I'm using my Walkera Devo8S because my Futaba is still in storage in CA. Gonna have my sister in CA ship my Futaba over to MD...just been lazy. Devo8S works fine though and I was able to set it up for adjusting the gyro gain from the transmitter. I did a test hover and the heli and gyro is very stable. I still need to get the new foam tape to replace the "cut to size" one.

Anyway I was reading the manual for Esky's new gyro/rx combo installed in the RTF Twinstar 3G to get information on the servos. It says the tail servo is set for 270Hz and cyclic servos 90Hz on the Twinstar. Since the D700 3G uses the same servos I used 270Hz for the tail and 65Hz for the cyclics since the Bigaole doesn't support 90Hz cyclic refresh rate.

Are you using 120Hz setting for cyclic? If you are how are the servos holding up? Also were you able to test out the stock blades?

[radu7]

I've got a few Devo Tx's and really like those too. The Devo10 is the one I use for all my Walkera stuff. I like the 8S as well, but can't see the display very good in the sun so rarely use it.

To be honest I think I have all of the servos on the D700 (cyclic and tail) set for 50Hz on my FBL controller as I couldn't find a bit of info on them regarding their operating frequencies and was worried about burning them up... It's been flying OK like that for probably over 100 flights now. I may up it a little in light of the info that you have found with regards to the Twinstar's settings. If I do I'll let you know.

I haven't had the chance to test the stock blades out yet, but will do so in the next couple of days. I'll be at IRCHA this week and the D700, disguised as a Blade 450 3D, is the only heli I'm actually bringing with me. I am bringing the stock canopy with me and will fly with that too. The red/white Blade 450 3D canopy works better for the battery fit/CG as well as being able to see the heli against a backdrop of trees where I normally fly.

I'll let you know how the servo settings and the stock blades go.

Oh, one thing to note that may just be peculiar to me and my Rx/FBL combo, but I've noticed on occasion that I'll connect the LiPo, put the canopy on and then test my controls before I take off and for whatever reason the tail servo will not respond to any rudder input. I unplug the LiPo, wait a second, and then re-connect and all is fine. Both times, however, the swash does its up/down twitch as if everything initialized OK. Never had an issue in flight though. So I make it a habit to check my cyclic and tail servo response via the Tx after connecting the LiPo and then again just before I take off. It has happened to me at least 3 times so far. Not a lot for the number of flights I have on it, but enough to make me check it before and after I put the canopy on.