Harbor Freight "Yellow Bee" Flyers?

[Ah Clem]

Anyone else flying one of these things?

The first time I flew one I hated it-now I love it. It is very easy to fly (not to mention a little strange) and flies extremely well. I have about 12 flights on one now and am really enjoying it. I am using it as a toy between helicopter flights.

For $25.00 plus tax (with a coupon), not a bad deal.

Originally Posted by Ah Clem

Anyone else flying one of these things?

The first time I flew one I hated it-now I love it. It is very easy to fly (not to mention a little strange) and flies extremely well. I have about 12 flights on one now and am really enjoying it. I am using it as a toy between helicopter flights.

For $25.00 plus tax (with a coupon), not a bad deal.

I hated my first one as well. Found it not to fly good at all and rather fragile. The last one I saw flying at our all electric club in Rockville, MD did pretty well.

I have seen others that did not. Good thing about Harbor Freight is that if you get a DUD you can always exchange it for another one.

[Zzip]

My Yellow Bee flies pretty well. I've crashed more times than I can remember {my fault, too windy} and only replaced the wings 3 times. Not bad, considering I had no experience in r/c flight. Just me, a field and my Yellow Bee!

Originally Posted by Zzip

My Yellow Bee flies pretty well. I've crashed more times than I can remember {my fault, too windy} and only replaced the wings 3 times. Not bad, considering I had no experience in r/c flight. Just me, a field and my Yellow Bee!

The wing is its most fragile part and the one I have seen replaced more often than not.

At $30 they are priced right, $25 is an even better better bargain.

That sound like the tittle for a good R/C song!

[jimw1956]

I have been strongly considering one of these...however I don't have a local harbor freight, so if I get stuck with a dud, it will be a little harder to "take back". I did pick up a CC flyer on closeout at a radio shack the other day for $20. Have yet to fly it though...not particularly thrilled with the on/ off throttle...thought it had a proportional throttle from what I had read about it.
I'm probably going to have to try a yellow bee though.

[Ah Clem]

Jim,


The Yellow Bee does have proportional throttle.

I flew it three more times today (during two of which I was teaching my son).

If you mail order it, I would still try asking them for the warrantee-they might still do it.

By the way, it flies best at fairly low throttle settings.

14 flights on mine now and two on my son's.

This is a weird little airplane, but it does fly well.

May have to stop by Harbor Freight tomorrow morning. :p

[kev1960]

Thank goodness there is a Harbor Freight in Pontiac, MI. The Yellow Bee always seems to be on-sale for 29.99 and has wing kits for 9.99.. I only wish they sold other spare parts, like propellers and batteries....

My experience with this plane has been pretty good. Although it can be flown in low wind, it is so much better to be patient for an after dinner, wind-less setting. As such, you learn to be easy on the steering and throttle, and let the plane glide as much as possible. It glides quite eloquently..

Problems I've had aside from the usual beginner control issues is that the plane seems to lose propellers.... When I've crashed, I've begin to wonder if a prop was lost during flight or if it was lost during a crash.. Anyone else notice this ? Also, the props seem to get 'chewed' up, and am wondering how ? Any good recommendations on how to get replacement props ?

Otherwise, great plane.... Any recommendations for a step-up or equivalent ??

Kevin

Originally Posted by kev1960

Thank goodness there is a Harbor Freight in Pontiac, MI. The Yellow Bee always seems to be on-sale for 29.99 and has wing kits for 9.99.. I only wish they sold other spare parts, like propellers and batteries....

My experience with this plane has been pretty good. Although it can be flown in low wind, it is so much better to be patient for an after dinner, wind-less setting. As such, you learn to be easy on the steering and throttle, and let the plane glide as much as possible. It glides quite eloquently..

Problems I've had aside from the usual beginner control issues is that the plane seems to lose propellers.... When I've crashed, I've begin to wonder if a prop was lost during flight or if it was lost during a crash.. Anyone else notice this ? Also, the props seem to get 'chewed' up, and am wondering how ? Any good recommendations on how to get replacement props ?

Otherwise, great plane.... Any recommendations for a step-up or equivalent ??

Kevin

Some people take the props off before the plane gets flown for the first time and put a "very tiny" amount of CA (I mean very, very small amount) on the motor shaft then put the props back on. I have seen them put the CA on a toothpick then rub the tooth pick against the motor shaft to prevent the CA from migrating into the motor armature.

Spare props wise, some have used the props from other similar planes, though I have no idea which ones they have used. There are quite a few of those pusher propeller plane types out there. Possibly all of them are made in the same factory in China. Possibly all the propellers are the same.

[Ah Clem]

I have lost count, but probably have about 20 flights on mine now. I have not had a problem with the propellers yet, but will keep an eye on them. Loosing one in flight would ruin your whole day.

I picked up the Condor from Harbor Freight also. It is smaller, and has a conventional tail. So far, it does not seem to fly as well (I am using a Yellow Bee transmitter so that I have a proportional throttle-the Condor TX has an off on throttle-strange). I am going to check balance and trim to see if I can get it to fly consistantly (the Yellow Bee is very consistent).

[jimw1956]

Well I made it to Harbor Freight yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to find that the local store was having some kind of special sale, and the yellow bees were marked down to $19! So, needless to say, I picked up one, and another one for a spare.

I took one of them out this morning and was absolutely amazed at how well this thing flies for $20. Maybe I just got lucky but mine flies great. I took it out very early this morning to a local soccer field...kind of limited space and a few light poles to dodge / fly over, but it did just fine...especially considering my novice piloting skills, of lack of skill.

I didn't bother with the excuse for a landing gear that came with it, figuring all it would do on a grass field was flip the plane over. I put some tape on the bottom to keep the scars down, and on both flights this morning it came in for perfect landings on it's belly. I guess there is a small chance you could break a prop if it hits just right, but probably much more of a chance with that dinky little landing gear installed.

BTW, I have no idea fit the $19 price was only in the local store or not, or if the sale was for more than one day, so please don't be dissappointed if your local store doesn't have them for this. I bought mine in Pearl, MS location.

They also had the Condor, but it was $39, so I figured I was better off with the two "bees". I'm considering buying a landing gear for a larger model and making a mount for the larger diameter wheels for the Yellow Bee. Would look kind of funny, but should land on the grass very well.

My H/F flyer had them listed as a Parking Lot Sale special through Sunday, I missed this one, I'll catch them on the next one though.

[jimw1956]

Thanks for the info Qban...I just totally lucked up on the sale. Pearl / Jackson is about 90 miles from my home and we drove over there Saturday just to get away a while and do a little other shopping. HF has some pretty neat stuff in there...wish we had one locally. They also had some little styro glider models that looked like they were just begging to be modified to RC with the AA gear. Anyhow, I think I'm going to order one of those little mini monowings today, if I can remember the name of the website.

Here it is. Don't spend too much time on this site. It is really addictive.

There are too many nifty R/C toys priced so cheap that before one becomes aware a fortune has gone there already. I had to modify my cart three times before ordering!

http://www.raidentech.com/mircai.html

[jimw1956]

Thanks Qban, but I got the address from the micro section post, and ordered from nitroplanes.com, but it is the same plane as far as I can tell. I've done a little searching on the net on this plane and found out a few more details:

It has a wingspan of 20 inches and a top flight speed of about 12 mph.
I am looking for something to fly on a nearby baseball field or soccer field...this should fit the bill nicely if it's not a total piece of garbage.

I read on one site that the 20 min. flight time was "real" and not an exaggeration. I severly doubt the recharge time though, especially considering that it is recharging off the radio.

One slight point of confusion is that some mentions I've seen of it state that it has variable speed, others two speed...I think the one that referred to two speed may have been referring to the "steering" function possibly, because it seems to be the identical plane. One minor concern is that there are no replacements available...wings and batteries are listed as "sold out". Guess if you break a wing you would have to scratch build a replacement.

I managed to order ONLY 1 plane off this site...btw, how many planes do you have now? I have about 9 or 10 and have not been in this hobby too long...worries me a little...I think I might have to seek some type of counseling or 12 step program or something.

Mine run the entire range from the Aero Ace to a nitro trainer with a 70" wingspan. (Bought used and at a friends workshop for repairs at the moment.) I've really got to slow down...the money is adding up and the storage space is dwindling. I will not buy anymore planes for at least a month...I'll just keep repeating that over an over...

BTW, just looked at the Raidentech site and it appears to be the same company as Nitroplanes.com.

I have four AHAA!!!s , two Yellow Bees (purchased this morning). I ordered the monowing AHAA!!! from Raidentech as well as the "Peter Pan", the "Micro Panther", the "Micro Flyer" and one "Dragonfly" mini heli (linked below), which I could not pass up because of its good price.

I have quite a few more in my Hangar. Those are pictured in my Gallery.

http://www.raidentech.com/dr3wosmmirch.html

[Grasshopper]

You are just a Micro Maniac Qban!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're probably the only forum member that can haul 25 of his planes in the front seat of your car though.

Three medium ones on the back seat and three more in the trunk.

Batteries? On the passenger floor!

[jimw1956]

Micros are definately fun for me. A little indoor type heli will probably be my next purchase...that one you linked to looks pretty good Qban...Radio Shack also sells one called a Blade Runner that I've seen some good comments about. It is made of foam, so it should be pretty durable. One guy commented that he had it and a $200 one and liked the Blade Runner better.

I'm a ham radio operator and there is a segment of that hobby that tries to see how little power they can communicate with...it's called qrp, radio shorthand for lower your power.

Micro planes kind of remind me of that...it's fun to see how much you can do with such a little plane and simple electronics. That's one thing I like about the dual motor steered planes...no linkages...no expensive ESC's, servos, etc.

This would require servos, control surfaces and more sophistication, but are there any 3D micros around?? That would be a neat thing to play with.

I went and tried my two Yellow Bees this morning.

Quite nice flyers these two are. I may have to take one of them back to Harbor Freight as it pulls to the left wildly while under power, and in order to turn to the right I have to kill the motors before making my turn. The trim control did nothing to resolve this problem.

Under power it will not turn to the right. Too bad because the other one turns right and left without any problems so I have a notion the motor on the right wing might be spinning a bit faster than the left one.

I also know it is not a physical problem with the plane as it has a nice shallow straight glide path when powered off. The other one glides just as nice.

BTW jimw1956, that inexpensive heli at Raidentech is as nice as it can get for the money. It flies very nicely. A friend of mine got his yesterday, and as I have said it is a rather nice little flying machine.

[BillAdair]

Just checked the HF web site, but didn't find a Yellow Bee.

They show a Cub, and two twin electrics, but at higher prices than you mentioned.

Anyone have a picture they can post?

Thanks,

Bill

[Zzip]

So is this thread turning into "The Bee Hive" ?!

[jimw1956]

Here is the link...it is item #92304

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92304

Originally Posted by Zzip

So is this thread turning into "The Bee Hive" ?!

YUP!

This is the one.

[jimw1956]

Took the yellow bee out for a flight at our big club field late this afternoon and almost screwed up big time. I was flying it around and let it get behind me and in a position that it was directly in the sun, and over some rather large trees. I gritted my teeth, made an oath that I would not lose the plane, poured the throttle to it to try and make sure it was over the trees and brought it back around...successfully! Had to land it and calm down a little bit after that one.

These things are very fast for their size and can get away from you pretty quickly...Qban you are absolutely right about it not being good for a small space. Our club field is a decent size, but not vast. Trees surround the outer perimeter so you have to be a little careful with planes that don't have elevators and raw power to climb over something quickly. I also made some pretty harrowing dive bombing runs after having to turn pretty sharply a couple of times...have to pretty much drop power to turn these quickly and that leads to a fast loss of altitude on the turn.

I also flew my recently repaired Redhawk...some good flights with it and a couple of pretty hard landings unfortunately.

This plane still has a very pronounced right turn problem. I have checked the control surfaces and wing placement.

One thing that occured to me after flying today is the fact that the windshield / battery compartment cover is extremely off center and crooked on this model...I am now thinking that it may actually be acting like a rudder and putting the right turn in.

Only way to fix it is to cut the rivet out that holds the little hook that fastens the canopy down , redrill a new hole and center the thing I suppose. Comments anyone on the likelyhood of this causing a turn problem?

Once I trimmed out most of the right turn with the transmitter trim control, the plane actually flew really well, and really slow when I wanted it to. If I don't destroy it before getting all the quality control bugs out, I think it will make a good little plane.