Introduction

Hovering smoothly in the hall.
Rotor Diameter:	560mm
Body Length:	510mm
Total Length:	680mm
Weight:	320-340g
Radio:	6+-ch CCPM
Motor:	Stock MS 300 series
Manuf.:	MS Composit
Available From:	Dee Tee Enterprises

My First Review!

As I have recently purchased and constructed my first MS Composit Micro Heli - the new Hornet II -- I thought it might be appropriate to review this kit for others that might be interested in purchasing one. This is my own personal review. I purchased this machine myself through normal retail channels and have received no special treatment or discounts from either manufacturer or supplier. The opinions expressed here are purely my own and have not been influenced by any outside source.

Reviewer Background.

I've been flying, sailing and driving R/C models for roughly 30 years. Helis have taken up all of my modeling time (and money!) in the past couple of years. As far as my skill set goes, I would class myself as low side of average in flying (no 3-D for this boy!), but a competent, if somewhat untidy, builder. I'm fairly handy with the electronic and mechanical side of things, I have a good grasp of the theory involved, and have put this to good use in my many experiments and hybrids.

Why the Hornet II?

The decision to purchase the Hornet was something of a logical progression for me. Traditionally I have been an Ikarus man, having built, modified and converted a number of machines based around the Ikarus ECO Piccolo with the ultimate development for me being the Piccornet, an Ikarus ECO Piccolo fitted with a full CCPM Hornet head. About two months ago I got a hankering for another heli. I felt like I had done the Piccolo to death and wanted to try something different, so I decided to try a Hornet. I discovered through the Hornet Forum that MS was working on a totally new Mark II Hornet. As I was still a little worried about some of the stories I had heard about getting the original CP Hornet properly sorted, I decided to gamble on the new machine and put my name down on the waiting list. I'm now very pleased that I did!!!

Manufacturer and Supplier info

MS Composit is a Czech company that has been involved in the micro heli scene since its early days. Their original was the fixed pitch Hornet, quickly followed by what I believe is the only out-of-the-box semi-scale micro heli, the Schweizer 300. A year ago was the Hornet Collective Pitch upgrade kit, followed by the full Hornet Collective Pitch Heli kit, now being superseded by the Hornet CP-X. The CP-X is effectively an upgrade of the original Hornet CP kit, incorporating some of the improvements now found in the Hornet II. MS are not resting on their laurels with the CP-X and Hornet II either - a tandem rotor scale CH-46 Sea Knight is due for release in the very near future! To non-microheli pilots, MS are probably best known for their range of carbon fiber blades for a wide range of larger radio controlled model helicopters. They also produce model aircraft and boats too!

The Hornet Schweizer 300. The Dragonfly Tandem! Now that's cool!

I purchased my Hornet II from DeeTee Enterprises in the USA. I had never dealt with DeeTee Enterprises before, but I based my decision to purchase both on comments from other Hornet pilots, and on DeeTee's extremely active participation in RCGroups.com's Micro-Helis Forum . Deetee Enterprises are specialists in electric helis. Along with their full and complete support of MS Composit Hornet products, they also sell and support the Hummingbird fixed pitch micro and the amazing DragonFly tandem rotor helicopter, which now sports an optional CH-46 body! I have to say that I am extremely pleased with my decision. Dennis (of DeeTee) has been extremely helpful every step of the way, right from my initial tentative inquiries, during the purchase (and subsequent shipping panic), right through to post purchase support and service today.

The Hornet II

The Hornet II is MS Composit's latest offering to the MicroHeli consumer. The machine is quite different from both its Hornet CP predecessor, and its new stable mate, the new updated Hornet CP-X. The Hornet II is longer (680mm length overall) and has a larger rotor diameter (560mm). Structurally, the machine features completely new main frame, canopy, landing gear, tail boom and tail gearbox housing, new all-metal pre-assembled tail blade hub and shaft, a pair of boom braces, and new main rotors. 

What's New:

New upgraded main frames, including legs and skids. Dramatic changes in the main blades, including constant chord.

• Mainframe: The mainframe is now a two piece unit using a combination of molded and carbon fiber parts, along with new molded landing legs and skids. 
• Tail: The tail gearbox and tail boom have also been re-designed. The tail boom/drive shaft assembly is longer and has a larger outside diameter (courtesy of a greater wall thickness in the outer tube). The tail boom also now features four bearings to support the inner drive shaft. 
• Conical Drive Gears: A feature of the the aircraft that will appeal greatly to older Hornet flyers is the use of conical drive gears, and tail-boom clamps at the main frame and tail gearbox. This arrangement makes the setting up (and later adjustment) of the critical gear mesh a breeze compared to the earlier Hornets. The pre-assembled metal tail rotor hub and shaft eliminate the other major set-up heartache of the earlier machine's tail.
• Main blades: The main rotor blades are also a radical departure from the MS microheli norm. The Hornet II blades are longer, much slimmer and constant chord. 
• A grown-up look: The high aspect ratio blades, along with the new main frame, undercarriage, and canopy combine to give the heli a much lower, more aggressive 'look' to it. The design style is more closely aligned with it's bigger IC powered cousins than microhelis have been in the past.

Ordering, The Arrival, and Initial Examination...

I ordered my Hornet II from DeeTee Enterprises in the USA. The machine was shipped by USPS Global Express Mail and arrived one week and one day after dispatch. (The delay was strictly NZ postal's fault. I would like to thank the people at NZ Customs in Auckland, Nigel Frost of CourierPost (Christchurch) and Courier 45 (Christchurch) for doing a great job of making up for NZ Post's fumble. These people managed to get the heli to me on Saturday! Thanks to all involved for their 'above and beyond...' service.)

Superb Packing for International Shipment!

My initial reaction on taking the parcel from the courier was "Oh, no! They've sent the wrong thing!" The box I held just seemed to small to hold a 560mm rotor heli. The parcel exhibited a little 'handling rash' but was in pretty good condition considering the distance traveled and the time of year it was sent. I opened the box to find enough foam chips to re-float the Titanic! On checking the contents I found that everything was present, correct and in good order despite the dings and dents in the box. Dennis certainly knows how to pack things for overseas travel.

Everything neatly packed. Inside the main zip bag, the parts are again bagged and assorted by assembly.

Kit contents: Two manuals (one of written instructions - Czech, English and German - and the other of illustrations) two canopy halves, two decal sheets (Hornet II and the original Hornet), a cardboard pitch gauge, and a large zip lock bag containing all the other parts. The large zip lock bag contained the Speed 300 motor, four zip lock bags of parts numbered with assembly stages (1, 2, 3-4-5, 6), one set of Carbon Fiber main rotor blades, and a bag containing the carbon fibre tubes and rods. Each of the assembly stage bags contained both loose parts and smaller zip lock bags of small parts relating to the assembly instruction stage involved. The quality of molding and forming of parts is excellent. All parts (with one exception mentioned later) fitted together well and there was no evidence of molding 'flash' on any parts. Some parts did have slight 'sprue nubs' but these were easily removed with a slight rubdown of sandpaper.

Assembly.

Painted and ready for decals.

As the manual is pretty self-explanatory (and also available on-line), I'm not going to go through a blow-by-blow description of the assembly. The first item I decide to deal with was the canopy. I wanted the machine ready to fly in 3 days, so constructing the canopy first would give me the opportunity to get it painted and finished as I was working on assembly of the heli itself.  After cutting out the two halves and trimming to fit (they fit together very well), I applied multiple light coats of primer, then multiple light coats of blue Candy Apple metallic lacquer. I have a reputation for being a very sloppy finisher, but I was really happy with the final result. Although it may not look great to others, it is definitely the best canopy paint job I have done to date!

Main Frame

The main frame was the first item on the instruction sheet. This went together easily with no issues at all. The only warning I have is not to be too sparing with the glue when gluing the support into the main frame. I have found that around 3 'pin head' drops of CA to each side of the E403 seems to provide sufficient strength without making the joint too difficult to disassemble later if needed.

Tail Assembly -- the Only Parts Fit Problem

Next up was the tail boom, tail gearbox, and tail rotor assembly. I must admit that I approached this assembly with a certain amount of trepidation. Older Hornet owners will tell you what a nightmare this assembly can be, and how critical it is to proper operation of the Hornet. I decided to 'dry-run' the entire assembly first without any adhesives at all to make sure that I had everything right before committing to final assembly.The tail boom/drive shaft assembly went together without a hitch, exactly as per the instructions.

The tail gearbox was next, and it was at this point that I found the only incorrectly fitting part in the kit. The E038 spacer tube that goes on the tail rotor main shaft, between the L0261 and L0361 bearings was approximately 1.5mm too long. After double and triple checking that all the bearings were in the correct places, and that everything else was assembled as it should be, a local Hornet guru and I decided that this must be an error on the part of MS. Some very gentle fine sanding of the E038 tube, checking for fit after every few strokes, soon rendered a part of the correct dimensions. 

Having sorted that little issue out, the tail rotor and pitch change assembly was next. This is definitely the most 'fiddly' part of the assembly with many tiny pieces all having to fit together perfectly with neither slop nor binding. All credit to MS in that despite the tiny size, this all went together well. I then checked the 'dry-run' assembly thoroughly and assembled it for real. No further issues were forthcoming in the actual assembly of the tail unit.

Head

This is done in three stages, the main rotor head and shaft assembly, the fly bar assembly, and then final assembly bringing together all the components and adding the swash plate. This was all familiar territory for me as my "Piccornet" is fitted with the same head/swash assembly. The only difficulty I found was in fitting the E077 inserts into the E115 hub. These are a really tight fit to get into the hub, but as I had learned with my previous experience with this head, quiet perseverance is the answer, rather than brute force and ignorance!

Final Assembly

Framed and ready for radio gear!

Final assembly was next. First I fitted up the completed rotor shaft assembly to the mainframe and attached the main gear. I then fitted the tail assembly, not forgetting to install the horizontal fin / boom support holder first. I adjusted the gear mesh at both main gear/drive shaft and tail gear/drive shaft, until the mesh was spot on - no binding and only the smallest amount of free play. Once I was happy with the gear mesh I secured the tail shaft at the mainframe and tail gearbox using the bolted clamps, and then re-checked the mesh just to be sure. Addition of the tail servo mounting plate, main motor and pinion, fins and boom supports completed the main assembly of the Hornet II.

Radio Installation and Setup.

Putting the equipment size in perspective.

Simple and effective...the new servo tray. Amazingly clean installation provides great geometry, shortest possible servo leads, and more.

The radio setup and installation were time consuming, although not overly difficult. I first laid out the the gear on the bench and did all of my setup and configuration on the bench, outside the heli. As I had experience with both CCPM and the Hornet head, I found no problems with getting the setup "in the ballpark", and I then transferred the gear to the heli for final checking and configuration. A final check on the bench revealed everything to working as it should be, and so I was ready to start trimming the Hornet II out for flying. The MS instructions for the radio installation and setup are reasonably comprehensive, and as long as you are familiar with how to set up your radio gear for CCPM you shouldn't experience any problems. An absolute beginner with all new equipment would be well advised to consult with a pilot experienced with both CCPM and preferably the Hornet as well. For a total newcomer to helis, the learning curve at this point is steep enough to be described as a learning cliff!!!

Flying.

After a final bench test of the radio equipment to check control orientation, the motor was finally connected and spun up to check the blade tracking. The tracking was spot on, there were no vibrations, and so it was time to start trimming.

The new hornet II with author's two other micro helis.

First, a quick 'photo op' with the rest of my fleet - I wanted to ensure I had pictures just in case the worst happened! I then took the machine through to my living room, placed it on the floor, switched on the transmitter and plugged in the heli's battery. A quick final check of control orientation confirmed that all was well, so I advanced the throttle slowly. The motor spun up smoothly, there was no sign of vibration, so I advanced the throttle until the heli was 'light' on the skids. At this point I was surprised to find that the Hornet II was exhibiting no out-of-trim behavior, so after a couple of seconds of sitting just off the hover, checking that all was well, I popped the throttle a little more.

To my absolute surprise, the Hornet II lifted off the ground and straight into a stable hover about 30cm off the lounge floor. A little touch of rudder trim was required to get the tail in place, but otherwise the trim was perfect off the building board! I was impressed! Some exploratory prodding with the sticks revealed good flight responses in all axes, with excellent flight stability, despite flying in my own backwash, in my relatively small living room. The rest of the day consisted of charging batteries and hovering around the living room as I got a feel for my new Heli.

Hovering smoothly in the hall.

Monday night arrived, and it was time for the Hornet II's maiden flight at our hall. I started off with some quiet hovering again, just to make sure that everything was responding correctly. Once again the Hornet II was rock solid, so I advanced to forward flight. Our hall is not overly large, so I kept the speed down, but I was soon doing circuits, figure eights and pirouettes and loving every minute of it. There is no doubt in my mind that the Hornet II is the most responsive, yet stable, microheli I have ever flown. 

I have been following the progress of other Hornet II flyers out on the net, and it turns out that the Hornet II is a very capable little microheli. Advanced pilots are flying 3-D with it, performing maneuvers that until now have been the sole domain of much larger powered model helicopters. This is well demonstrated in a number of videos of extreme Hornet II flying that are now available on the net.

At the same time, the Hornet II is quite docile in the hands of an average flyer such as myself. Over the past two weeks of flying, I have found that its stability, predictability, and precision are encouraging me to move outside of my own comfort zone and try different maneuvers while flying.

Beginners?

I probably wouldn't suggest the Hornet II as a first time heli for an absolute beginner, unless they had access to an experienced Hornet Pilot who could help guide them through the finer points of setting up. Gear mesh, setting up CCPM Heli radios, and getting the heli in initial trim ready to learn to fly are all areas that are greatly aided by having an experienced pilot handy.

Conclusion.

The MS Composit Hornet II is a great micro heli. It is well packaged, well constructed, and flies really well out of the box. The improvements over the older model have eliminated all of the past problems with vibrations and tail rotor setup. For average to experienced pilots the Hornet II represents a great machine to own and fly. Average fliers will find it encourages them to try new and different things, while experienced fliers will find its 3-D capabilities truly exciting. Despite the mechanical complexity of the machine (compared to say the Ikarus Piccolo series), the Hornet II is quite crash resilient. I have had a few 'incidents' while flying it, which have resulted in unscheduled arrivals into the ground. The new boom supports do a great job of performing double-duty as boom protectors. I have had a number of boom strikes as a result of arrivals, and on each occasion the boom support has sacrificed itself while saving the tail boom from any damage at all.

Well done MS Composit, with the Hornet II you have a real winner on your hands!