Call me biased and repetative, but from my experience, the E-flite apprentice would have to be the perfect trainer plane. It is so docile, built to counter tipstalling, tricycle landing gear and floats like a butterfly. Allows a beginner time to recover from wrong sticking when turning towards yourself. Even after progressing to getting your bronze wings, it is a good plane to rebuild confidence after the inevitable mishap in the air. I am also an advocate of the T28 Trojan, but I believe crawl with the apprentice before you walk with the trojan & then run with whatever you like.
(This post was last modified: 18-03-2012, 11:28 PM by Flying fisho.)
I'm currently waiting on a freight quote for a plug n play from Brisbane. Trying to see if there is a dealer close by who are willing to match the price for one.
Have put on layby the DX8 from Hills Hobbies, price was too good to go past.
I will be careful of the big bear Dave.... Futaba may come down the track once I know what I'm doing.
I'm hoping that the freight is reasonable on the plane.
Thanks for all the help guys, and for straightening me out a bit!!
PNP Apprentice 15e has been ordered. Hoping for arrival this week.
Will probably seek cheaper alternatives for batteries and charger at the moment, I know a few places with really good discounts
Well hopefully I can come down talk a bit more with you all, get asked to become a member and learn to fly with you all.
Thanks again
(This post was last modified: 19-03-2012, 12:28 PM by corsair_pilot.)
Nothing wrong with Turnigy batteries from Hobby King NSW warehouse, will serve the purpose well (Gary is an avid fan of the turnugy nanotechs) And on other threads you will see discussions on the HK orange receivers. Both are sufficient quality to suit the purpose of this magnificent easy flier.
PS. Guess what plane is featured in my avatar picture.
(This post was last modified: 19-03-2012, 08:49 PM by Flying fisho.)
Hey Wayne, I'm guessing it's the apprentice!? Haha
Should have the little or not so little beauty tomorrow.
Am I right in saying that I will end up with a receiver with the radio when I pick it up?
Wayne thanks for the sensible advice! I know I'll enjoy myself a whole lot more learning on something I'm not going to have multiple issues with!
Ok now its my time to get my electronics lesson.
I've tried to follow the thread that wingtipper put up, but I was getting a bit lost. For the apprentince they recommend a 3200mah 3s battery. Would it make a difference if i got a 3300mah 3s battery?
No, it won't make any difference at all - a slightly greater capacity isn't going to be an issue. Ensure the battery you get is still a "3S" combination and that will be fine.
Sweet! Thanks Steve, will order a battery now, and a charger and then its just waiting for a few pays to pick up the radio and well then i'm almost ready to go!
My neat little (or not so little) apprentice showed up this morning. Quite a nice little machine. Thanks guys I think it was well worth the few extra $$ spent on it.
Will build it up over the next few days, and get some photos up of it and finally be able to post in the new addition thread!
Another question, when it comes to epoxy, is 5min araldite ok to use on the plane?
The suggestion by manufacturer is 30min araldite, but does it really matter?
Some people say that there's a strength difference between the 5min and the 30min stuff when they're both fully cured Jon - but I've never seen any believable data and it ins't going to be noticeable on a model plane anyway. The 5min stuff is perfect and I always take some to the field in case it's required. As long as you mix the hardner and resin well, there's going to be no difference between them as far as your model goes.
Sweet! Thanks Steve, I just didn't want to find out that it was going to eat the foam and turn the wings into jelly or something stupid like that.
In that case I should have 90% of the building done tonight, and will just be waiting on batteries/charger and then the Tx/Rx in a few weeks time.
Thats not actually the case guys.
The different cure time epoxies have SIMILAR compositions the only difference is that the faster the set time the more brittle the epoxy is when it completes curing.
5 min is handy for simple repairs but if you are gluing wings to a fusalage then the 30 or even 60 minute epoxies are the ones you should be using.
They are actually stronger because they have more elasticity.
That simply said means if you overload a 5 min epoxy it will shatter when it reaches its yield point, where a 30 minute epoxy has a higher yield point and will actually bend a lot more before it fails.
Thats the difference without getting overly technical.
This ends todays chemisty lesson.
Gazz
Parkzone Stryker 27 Evolution
E flite Ultra Stick , T 28 Carbon Z Skyartec Skyfun Scorpion,Skyfun 90 EDF
Hobbyking Voltigeur, Funfighter T28, Mirage 2000,Minimoa 2.4m Glider
Jet Teng L-39 HPAT Stumax 90
Pheonix Tiger 50
FliteWork Extra 300 LPX 2.6M Spectrum DX9i , DX6
Don't ever let the fear of landing keep you from taking off!
(This post was last modified: 20-03-2012, 05:53 PM by gbanger.)
If ya say so Gazz - but having used both several times I've never seen a difference.
If I was constructing my own homebuilt general aviation aircraft out of composite materials and I was going to be risking my own neck by riding in the thing, I'd be a bit more discerning but for a model you won't see the difference.
You are probably right Steve.
I was just pointing out the differences between said epoxies, because there IS a difference.
I personally use 15 minute on almost everything and it works fuknorn!
Parkzone Stryker 27 Evolution
E flite Ultra Stick , T 28 Carbon Z Skyartec Skyfun Scorpion,Skyfun 90 EDF
Hobbyking Voltigeur, Funfighter T28, Mirage 2000,Minimoa 2.4m Glider
Jet Teng L-39 HPAT Stumax 90
Pheonix Tiger 50
FliteWork Extra 300 LPX 2.6M Spectrum DX9i , DX6
Don't ever let the fear of landing keep you from taking off!
Yes Gazz - it's the HK 15min stuff I use all the time too.
I keep the 5min stuff in the bag for the field, but it goes off a bit too quickly on a warm day (... whenever we have 'em).
I remember one day about a year ago when Junior took off with the Trojan and stalled it about 10 feet off the deck. It came straight back down and snapped the nose off directly in front of the leading edge of the wing. We cursed each other while the 5min stuff set and then about 20mins later he was up there cutting the sky up again ... couldn't do that with a balsa plane and I wouldn't really have confidence in cyano doing a large surface area job like that either.
My 2 cents worth, I use 5 min Epoxy and have been for everything, but i tend to do little sections at a time as it cures in 5 min, But That works for me and strength wise its been fine.
Where i need extra strength i just use more epoxy there or fine glass matt with epoxy. (motor mount areas etc)
Steve
What Do You Mean Theres a Throttle Curve ?, Its Either all the way up or all the way down
Most epoxy's are fine, but are a bit on the heavy side just as they are. (weigth is the enemy of the model airplane!!)
I like to use a 24 hour cure epoxy (west systems of FGI) unless Im doing a very small job
The reason for this is it has about 20 mins pot life, that allows me time to add "micro-lite" filler to make it much lighter. With this filler I can reduce the weight of the resin down to, less than 1/4 of what it was and still be as strong or stronger than the parent material. Lets face it we are mostly bonding balsa or foam. They are not overly strong parent materials. Also this filler can be mixed in to the resin to make it any consistancy. It can easily be made thick enough so it will take up gaps very nicely and not drool out like 5 or 15 min mixtures and it will still bond like a bastard!! I realy like that!!
There's a whole range of fillers you can use for different purposes with epoxys. If you want a realy super strong bond then you must use filler with your epoxy. But for most aplications in areomodeling you'll find that it will rearly fail the epoxy joint it will mostly fail right next to the joint in the balsa or foam.
Gazz is right about epoxy reson shattering I have had just a couple of instances where highly stressed joints have failed in the actual reson, the solution to this is to use fiber filler mixed with the epoxy, that increases the joint strength massivly. Reinforcing with glass cloth, carbon or my favourite, kevlar, is also an easy option with epoxy.
The longer cure resons do have a higher yield point, the interesting thing about epoxy is that it's adheasive strength is higher than the yeild strength of the unfilled reson. The beautie of it being a little elastic is that is can stretch and allow the load to be taken up on the fibers, if they are there.
For the most part tho', when my things fail, it's not the glue's fault, it's the nut behind the sticks that causes the problem
Epoxy is a magic material, you can do so much with it. Once you start getting into composite structures it's interesting and very versitile, just AWSOME stuff!!
“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." ~Leonardo Da Vinci
paaatience !!
paaaaaatience 
paaaaaaatieeence 
dooooohhhh !!! 
