Features
The Beam has a layout that is very similar to many members of the 450 class of models. One thing that helps the Beam E4 to stand out in the crowd is the apparent attention to detail and craftsmanship that's evident in almost every portion of the helicopter.

MAIN FRAME
COMPONENT LAYOUT: The servos are all mounted vertically under the swashplate, the motor is in front of and below the main gear, the battery mounts on an angled tray on the front, and there's room on the lower tray for the receiver and speed control. The gyro mounts on top of the boom clamp. The two front servos mount on a common bracket that serves as a bearing block and an integral piece of the frame.
FRAME DESIGN: Two vertically stacked pieces of carbon fiber with aluminum bearing blocks and carbon fiber trays.
SWASH CONTROL: 120° CCPM with the servos connected directly to the swash.
CANOPY: Prepainted plastic with a black windscreen and silver bottom—attached at the bottom to the lower tray, and at the back with two aluminum posts that rest in rubber grommets.
LANDING GEAR: Flexible nylon landing struts with aluminum skids. The frame itself is angled slightly along the bottom to give the helicopter an aggressive forward leaning stance.

DRIVE TRAIN
MOTOR MOUNT: The aluminum motor mount is attached with four 2mm machine screws.
PINION: A 14- and 16-tooth pinion are included, which would work with a 3000 kV or 2500 kV motor respectively. We used an 11-tooth with the HK-2221-8 motor, and a 10-tooth with the HK-2221-6 motor.
MAIN GEAR: The 150-tooth main gear is plastic and has bearings above and below.
AUTOROTATION DRIVE: The one-way bearing is pressed into a center hub, which bolts into the main gear and drives the tail for autos.
TAIL DRIVE: The tail drive pulley is mounted on top of the main gear and drives the tail belt directly. Two tensioners keep the belt taught and prevent it from rubbing the sides of the boom.

ROTOR HEAD
WASHOUT ARMS: Supported by dual bearings, machined out of aluminum, and sporting a cool, round appearance, these arms look different than most helis but function the same.
BELL/HILLER ARMS: These, too, are dual bearing supported, and have the same cool, round look.
MAIN BLADE GRIPS: These one-piece grips each have two radial bearings and a thrust bearing, and they're machined out of aluminum.
HEADBLOCK: Machined out of one piece of aluminum with one soft and one hard damper on each side. It's held in place with a Jesus bolt, which also clamps the block.
PHASING: The phasing pins are pressed directly into the headblock and have only minimal slop between them and the washout base.
SWASHPLATE: A carbon anti-rotation guide serves to keep the swashplate from twisting. The swashplate is machined out of aluminum and offers the ability to be taken apart for service.

TAIL
BOOM: The 12mm diameter aluminum tail boom is supported by carbon boom supports with aluminum ends. A boom support crosspiece matches the rounded look of the mixing arms.
TAIL CASE: The tail case is machined out of one piece of aluminum, with an arm attached to support the bellcrank. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the tail case is one of the most elegant aspects of the design.
TAIL BLADE GRIPS: Machined out of aluminum with two radial bearings in each grip.
PITCH ACUATOR SYSTEM: A simple bellcrank attaches to the pitch slider at a single point. The slider yoke attaches to the tail blades with links that can pivot on both ends.

Testing
With the 8-turn motor on an 11-tooth pinion, the helicopter gets a reasonable headspeed of about 2,800 rpm. This provides more than enough power for most types of flying, but for those who demand insane performance, the use of a 6-turn motor, a 55-amp Scorpion Commander speed control, and a 10-tooth pinion can be implemented to crank the headspeed into the stratosphere. (According to our math it should be about 3,200 rpm, but we don't have a tach capable of reading that high.) The high power system does cut flight times down to about five minutes with our 10-tooth pinion. The initial test hops indicated some attention needed to be paid to setup. Initially, the swash and tail pitch slider had a little "stick" to them. After giving those two items a little TLC, the helicopter's performance was dramatically improved and we were able to proceed with photo flights and testing.

Hovering • Initially, the helicopter was a handful with the tight swashplate. It would not center well and was difficult to hold in one spot. After performing a few flights to break in the swashplate, I was happy to see that the hover became very manageable and sedate for such a high-performance helicopter, even at highest head speeds.
Rating: 4

Forward Flight • With the swash feeling nice and free, the forward flight was very crisp and only required a small but predictable amount of forward cyclic to keep it moving through the air at a quick clip.
Rating: 4

Cyclic Pitch Response • The cyclic is very quick and on axis. Rolls are quite easy without losing speed, and the heli will flip end-over-end and maintain its altitude without loading the head severely. There is no problem with cyclic agility; the model rips and carves as quickly as you can move the sticks.
Rating: 5

Collective Pitch Response • With the moderate power system setup, the model had good power and authority and had no problem delivering very solid performance. With the high power setup, the model will pop, tic tock, and boogie with the best of them. Tic tocks start to look almost comical if you can move the sticks fast enough. It will pull strongly through pretty much anything you can throw at it, as long as the tail can keep up.
Rating: 4.5

Tail Rotor Response • I am really hard on review models because I fly right-hand piro maneuvers. I did find that through hard right-hand maneuvers with a right tail input, the tail would sometimes have trouble holding where I wanted it. If you fly left-hand piro maneuvers, you will probably never have an issue (which I've found to be most common among pilots). For the most part, the tail holds very well and delivers fast, predictable piro rates.
Rating: 3.5

Autorotation Capabilities• Like most 450-sized models, autorotations are best left to those who like to take risks, those who feel inclined to prove people wrong, and those who just like to show off. It will auto, but it doesn't have much at the bottom if you mess up. It's a one-shot deal: Come in hot with the headspeed ripping, and apply the collective just right at the very bottom to stop your descent.
Rating: 3

Post Flight Inspection • Unlike some models we review that are very crisp at the beginning and start to show signs of wear and feel sloppy in flight in short order, the Beam is almost the opposite. Off the bench it needs a little TLC to get everything working freely. Your first flights are likely to be like ours: a bit "sticky." However, as you fly the model and get the parts broken in to work smoothly with each other, the model really begins to shine, and looks to be a very robust model over the long run. The manufacturing tolerances on this machine appear to be second to none.
Rating: 4

Conclusion
With some time put into the setup, the Beam is a sweet-flying machine. It flies with incredible authority and agility with the HK-2221-6 Scorpion motor, and is one of the most potent 450s on the market, although right piro flyers will have to fly more carefully than left piro flyers to avoid having the tail let go. The quality of the machine work is fantastic, and it's apparent that there was considerable thought put into the design details. Considering the quality and parts support from Advantage Hobby, the price is right. If you're looking for a hot 450, then this is your machine.

When You Open the Box
The kit comes in a small, well-organized box. All the components are individually packed and well organized. The blades, boom and other longer parts are packaged along the length of the box, and the smaller parts are protected in the canopy. The only stickers included are simple lettering made out of reflective material. They don't enhance the colors or visibility much, but they do look sharp and simple.

Manual and Build
This model is definitely a builder's kit. The manual is very simple, with all black and white CAD drawings. There is no wording to explain the steps, but dotted lines do a decent job of pointing out where the parts go, and there's a list at the top of each page that shows the fittings required for that step. Filing the edges of the frame is a good idea before you begin assembly. One of the Bell-Hiller mixing arms was barely touching one of the flybar carrier pivot screws. It only took some very light grinding with a moto-tool to prevent them from touching. The swashplate and tail pitch slider were tight enough out of the package to cause the helicopter to be a handful. With some polishing compound, we were able to buff the tail shaft enough to get the tail pitch slider to move freely. For the swashplate, I sat with the mainshaft and a bottle of oil, and just kept working the ball until it freed up. The kit came with a 14- and 16-tooth pinion, and a chart is provided in the manual to help figure out which kV motor to use with which pinion.