[MaxTakeoff]

I need some help with this. I have a Honeybee King, the original one with the shaft driven tail, everything stock, apart from new receiver. I have set everything in the head as level as I can, including servo arms, swashplate, paddles and have checked that the main shaft, feathering shaft and fly-bar are all straight.
Here's a picture of how it was ready for testing earlier tonight ...




When I got it in the air, it took half right cyclic to keep it level! I landed it and got my kid to disconnect the battery while I tried to keep the stick where it was, this is how the swashplate looked ...



I don't know what to look for now, I'd appreciate any suggestions - it can't be right to need the swashplate at that angle!

[cassat]

Did you measure each rotor blade seperatly with a pitch guage?

Anyway, the first place to look is if the white paddles are even
Move the rotors around slowly by hand and watch the paddles
as they come around to the sides of the heli

[MaxTakeoff]

Thanks for the input, I don't have a pitch gauge but each of the main rotors is set pretty close to zero pitch at zero throttle and I checked that the blades were tracking.
The first picture is taken from the side of the heli with the paddles lined up level - by eye.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that if I bring the heli up to eye level and try to keep it steady, the fly-bar and paddles look to be rotating in a different plane to the main rotor. The paddles are closer to the main rotors on the left when looking from the back.

[Cougar429]

A few observations: You will get left drift due to the tail rotor, but you should not require that much swash tilt to counter it. On the King 2 I recommend, after setting your pitch linkage for a perfectly flat swash, to then lengthen the left rear servo-to-swash link ONE FULL TURN. This helps counter that side thrust and make things more stable. What may aggravate the problem would be weight imbalance, with everything more to toward the L.H. side, or you could have possible structural damage.

NOTE: Due to that side thrust, in a stable hover the heli will sit right skid low.

Second, flybar paddles are absolutely critical for a good flying machine, but if they were off a bit the effect would be all around the rotor, not just confined to one side. Usual symptom would be blade tracking problems that are RPM dependent.

Lastly, your flybar IS above the axis of the main blades, so you should see them flying in a different plane.

[MaxTakeoff]

Cougar429 (or can I call you Cougar? ), thank you for confirming some thoughts for me. I am wondering whether I've got a weight imbalance - how would you check this?
I don't see any structural damage but I will have another look tonight - it should be fairly obvious though wouldn't you think, to cause that much tilt on the swashplate?

I have put larger tail blades on that improved the rear end but I think that only changed the pitch of the tail blades not the lateral force.

Sorry I meant that the fly-bar isn't parallel to the main blades in stable hover, not that the planes are different. On my Blade CP Pro - the fly-bar looks pretty much exactly parallel with the main blades when hovering - on the King the paddles are closer to the main blades on the left side than they are on the right side.

[truman]

level the swashplate if that doesn't work it might be the stock servos they don't center well this was my experience anyway. after you level the swash recheck everything else as they will be off a little from the adjustment.

Rob

[MaxTakeoff]

Rob, I can't level the swashplate any better than I had it in the first two pictures - that was how it was set up before I flew it. The tilt in the last picture is how I had to have the swashplate to prevent the heli veering off to the left - as you say it should be level not tipped over like that.

[truman]

correct me if I am wrong might just be the picture but it looks like your feathering shaft is bent

Rob

[MaxTakeoff]

Ya, in that last picture it does look a bit bent doesn't it? I'm fairly sure that it's straight but I'll check it again. Although, if the feathering shaft was bent, it's rotating, so that would tend to cause vibration and blade tracking issues wouldn't it - as opposed to pulling in one particular direction?

[astrofler]

You say you're using larger tail blades that improved handling. I assume then you have flown it with the stock blades. Did it require that much trim with the stock blades?

and no the feathering shaft wouldn't do that. it'd show up in tracking as you suspect.