Out with the old, in with the new
I am starting to think - OK not necessarily starting to think - that model helicopters should come with a health warning! “This hobby may seriously damage your bank account“!
 Alright, moaning over … I’ve recently bought a few new bits for my King and I fitted them this weekend 
It all started (here comes the excuse) because the stock motor failed fairly soon after I bought the helicopter. Luckily, I had been donated another by a very kind chap. The duff motor was swapped with the new and my heli was back in the air - kind of, so to speak 
There is constant chat on the heliGuy forum about the stock motor being less than reliable. “Go brushless” is the usual advice. So when a brushless motor and ESC appeared for sale, it seemed the obvious thing to buy it! Now then, the usual upgrade appears to be the Esky 3900kv and 25A ESC - and many people seem happy with it. However, that is not what appeared for sale - rather it was a JGF 400DH and Sonix 30 ESC.
 I confirmed with the seller that it was suitable for a HB King 2 with standard blades - no problem came the reply - “sold” was my reply!
That should really have been the end of the story … but that would be a bit short, wouldn’t it!
I then decided I ought to read up on what I’d bought and eventually came to the conclusion that I should really get myself a programmable Tx before I fit this motor. The standard ESky Tx does not allow you to alter the throttle and pitch curves and the JGF website seemed to recommend a non-linear throttle curve. Good enough excuse for me
From a newcomers view, the Tx of choice seems to be a Futaba of some sort or a Spektrum something or other. So, what do you think came up for sale and caught my eye? Yes, that’s right … a Hitec Eclipse 7 !? It’s lucky I don’t feel the need to be the same as everyone else!!
I investigated the Hitec and it certainly appeared to be a very powerful transmitter, with all the functionality I would need for quite a while. As part of the deal I also got a new Hitec receiver.
Excellent, all sorted!
So there it was - a pile of stuff just dying to be installed. All I needed now was the time and knowledge to perform the upgrade. Time was not a problem…
The actual “doing” is worthy of a post on it’s own, so it will be