hi, i just bought a yard bee , my first ele. plane. i`m not reallly impressed w/ the power or speed or it. it doesn`t climb well , but i did manage a loop w/ it.what can i do to get more out of it?? it has a stock 280 motor, 5 amp speed controller,7.2 v 600mah battery, 7.5 x 5 prop. i know it should have a 800 mah battery but that will only increase flight time? i have a 7 x 6 prop i`m going to try but i don`t think that`ll help & maybe hurt performance. should i just put a .061 glow engine on it? i`d like to keep it electric, but not spend $100 to make it faster. thanks guys, conk

i forgot to mention that i think my battery pack is heavy? it contains 6 full size AA cells. is this the right battery?thanks again, conk

probably the right battery pack, but what ya got there is a slow flying plane,,,,,,, all of the yard bee series are designed to fly slow ,,trainer like so you dont hit the ground real fast .. a loop is about all your gonna get outa one,,, if you did enough to make it faster (glow engine) it'd probably just tear the wings off of it..just practice with it until your ready to move up to a slightly faster plane.........just remember, just because you have mastered a yard bee doesnt mean your ready for a Mustang......Rog

I think your pack is too heavy for a 280 motor. A 270 mah ni-cd 7-8 cell or possibly an 8 cell AAA ni-mh will improve performance. What gear box are you useing?

Just finished my Yard bee ARF and flew it, but it was so tail heavy at the prescribed balance point, it couldn't fly straight. During construction, there were several problems. The pushrods were too long and the motor mounting system was different than the one in the manual, but I downloaded another version of the manual form the Internet and the problem was fixed. Now it flies fine. Why are there two motor mounting systems for these bees?
Her is a picture of it. For more, see my gallery

I agree, with a 280 motor you should go with much smaller batts.
On these smaller electrics, an ounce of extra weight can affect the flying characteristics considerably.

I have had good luck with smaller AAA size batts. You could also go to a 7 cell pack or a 2 cell li-poly pack for more power or less weight.

Jason

My 2c
I don't know much about batteries, but I'll tell you what works for me.
I have a NiMh 8 cell 720 Mah homemade pack that weighs 3 ounces. It doesn't seem too heavy for the airplanes, and with thes stock motor it will do ha;f an hour on idle. The whoe airplane with it weighs about 13 ounces.

Has anyone made a cowl for the yardbee out of wood or anything to cover up the motor? The motor sticking out kinda looks ugly. I tried 1/32 balsa, but it looked ugly and I didn't know hot to make it removable
Any ideas, guys?

Hi guys. this is an old thread, but maybe you still have your yard bees.

I picked one up at a swap meet. Appears to have a Graupner 280 motor with a gear box, APC 9X4.7 prop. I put in two GWS pico f Servos and a Hitec Fether receiver, and located them toward the rear of the plane according to the control rods that were already installed in the plane. Their combined weight about .7 oz. The receiver is way way back. Planning on using a GWS ICS 300 speed control and a 7 cell AAA 720 mah GWS nimh pack.

Doing some intial balancing prior to final positioning. I am using a Great Planes CG machine which I use for all my planes. Seems to work pretty well.

The plane seems very nose heavy. I am setting the CG at 3 1/4 inches back from the leading edge, as per the manual I downloaded.

In the manual they show the battery going very far forward, right behind the motor. I seem to be placing the battery way back, mostly behind the CG to try to get to neutral balance. That isn't necessarily wrong, but seems odd. Could it be because the components I am using are so light?

Any thoughts on this? I dont' know, but I think this was built from a kit.

[8D]hi I put a thunder tiger .07 on my yard bee and it flies great this little engine is rated at .024 horsepower and will turn a 6/4 prop at 20,000 rpm .......and it weights less than 4oz with muffler.... and you get about 10 min with a 1oz tank its great

aea jr,
It might be different on your bee, but mine flew like you know what with the CG as in manual. It was tail-heavy and needed lot of down eleveator just to fly, because the one I came had the ARF motor and didn't give any power. I would make it a little bit nose heavy and go from ther. It usually is better to have a nose-heavy airplane that a tail-heavy one (unless you're flying 3d)

Good advice on the nose heavy. You are not the first person to suggest that.