The Apprentice S 15e comes complete with a Li-Po battery charger (above left) and a 3S 3200 mAh Li-Po battery flight pack. Using the included alligator
Fortunately, errors are few and merely annoying or time consuming. Fear of break- ing parts caused more delays, figuring out why they didn’t seem to go as easily as they should. Additionally, things like a set of jeweler’s screwdrivers turned out to be nec- essary. Very small screws are used in sever- al places.
Removing and reading the manual was the first step. Identifying each part as it was removed from the box was the next. Keep the manual handy. I, as a bona fide novice builder (assembler) found that a lot of the information in the specifications section had little meaning to me at this point, and was ignored. Assembly actually starts while the flight battery is being charged. The process for charging the battery required a full page of instruction.
However, a well written, step–by-step process for successful charging is what fills most of the page. It would have been helpful if I had some idea of how long it might take to reach full charge, but that information was not included, only warnings that over- charging could cause a fire. The charger is meant to connect to a 12-volt automobile battery. Two short wires, positive and nega- tive leads, end in large alligator clips that are obviously designed to connect directly to
clips, Sam was able to use the charger in his car engine compartment (above left), while charging the Li-Po batteries at the field.
the posts of the battery. It requires that the charger and attached Li-Po battery pack be placed inside the engine compartment. In my car, that meant sitting almost on top of the car battery.
The airplane itself is foam construction and quite complete. No fabrication at all is required. All of the control surfaces are at- tached and assembling the parts is essen- tially a matter of attaching things in se- quence. Again, following the steps in the manual should be all that is required. There is a need for special tools like the jeweler’s screwdrivers required to get into the small holes made for the tiny screws used to hold the tail pieces in place.
The instructions specifically warn against breaking the plastic posts the screws are threaded into. I found that it required a lot of cautious effort to force the screws deep enough to insure a good secure fit. The very small pins at the end of the pushrods fit into very small holes in the rudder, elevator and aileron control horns. Clumsy, fat fingers like mine were not an asset. I got the job done anyway and I didn’t break anything as I feared I might.
Attaching the steerable nose wheel re- quires removing the already attached pro- peller and the cowling covering the motor.
Here is another place where a small screw- driver will come in handy, not because the front of the 2-piece spinner is attached with a screw, but because it is a snap-on piece that requires a bit of leverage and pulling to remove. Underneath, there’s is a 10mm nut that actually holds the prop on the shaft. Following the illustrated instructions gets the nose wheel and main landing gear at- tached easily.
Seemingly, the simplest thing to put to-
gether is the wing. Slide the two sides to- gether on the preinstalled carbon fiber tube spar, align with the double sided tape and attach the ailerons. Easy! Well, not quite. Two plastic covers, one each for the leading and trailing edges, are supposed to be at- tached with the double sided tape provided. At first I looked for separate pieces of tape, but couldn’t find them. Eventually I found the tape had already been applied but hid- den by a peel back, protective liner that was exactly the same color as the two plastic covers. At this point there were some instructions that described position of switches, making connections to servos, DIP switches, the DX5e transmitter included with the Appren- tice S, and a Y harness connected to the AILE (aileron) port. At first I didn’t under-
The spinner and propeller need to be disassembled and removed first to remove the cowl (above left) before adding the nose gear. Installation of the nose
FLYING MODELS
gear requires removing the tiny screws (above right) with a small jeweler’s type screwdriver as well as carefully cutting the trim markings along the cowl seam.
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