that engineer that drew up that cut got fired and noone knows what it was for but him.

Originally Posted by whitehawk

Has anyone noticed the small cut out in the fuse, directly under where the wing sits...I think it's on the port side? What is this? Is there an intended purpose for this? The black window tape is the only thing covering the cut out.

I am not sure what that was for but i use it for my camera mount,i had these old Brackets from IKEA they were for my son so he could not open a drawer,the holes on the small plastic piece lined up with the piece under the wing and i just added the metal bar for the rest of the fit for my flip mino it works great i can slide the camera on and off with ease and its very secure

Ron

Got mine today...hope to maiden soon before the Winter really arrives to the mountains of Colorado!

I have heard of some mods people have posted and would like to hear more.

Has anyone done a flaps mod? Are folks seeing any wear on the bottom tail plastic piece? Any more ideas on AP and possible mounting schemes? Bigger tires? Lights?

Any details and photos would be great and could start some lively discussion.

Oh one more thing...is there a good plane on Real Flight to sim the Apprentice?

John

Originally Posted by Sir Krashalot

Got mine today...hope to maiden soon before the Winter really arrives to the mountains of Colorado!

I have heard of some mods people have posted and would like to hear more.

Has anyone done a flaps mod? Are folks seeing any wear on the bottom tail plastic piece? Any more ideas on AP and possible mounting schemes? Bigger tires? Lights?

Any details and photos would be great and could start some lively discussion.

Oh one more thing...is there a good plane on Real Flight to sim the Apprentice?

John

John,

The only mod I've done so far is bigger wheels. I used 2-1/4" Dubro treaded lite wheels. The mains go on without any modification. The nose wheel - I found needed a collar on the inside of the wheel as there is more wire length - so the extra collar kept the wheel from sliding too much.

I will be re-painting over the winter; just can't stand the apprentice sticker. I like Snoopy's scheme.

Tim

I mounted an 8.2 megapixel Kodak point & shoot type of digi-camera on the left side of mine. Camera & mount were rather heavy and assymetrical. I could hardly tell any difference in flying, flew great.

Originally Posted by Sir Krashalot

Got mine today...hope to maiden soon before the Winter really arrives to the mountains of Colorado!

I have heard of some mods people have posted and would like to hear more.

Has anyone done a flaps mod? Are folks seeing any wear on the bottom tail plastic piece? Any more ideas on AP and possible mounting schemes? Bigger tires? Lights?

Any details and photos would be great and could start some lively discussion.

Oh one more thing...is there a good plane on Real Flight to sim the Apprentice?

John

I Have added flaps.very easy mod i had a couple of sv80 servos laying around from trojan and popped them in,the apprentice already is a floater so there was no need but i like the looks and it makes it float even more you can see where i cut them in on previous pics with trojan,corsair

as far as wear on the bottom of the tail plastic piece im not sure what wear there would be,but i do not have any

i added 2 1/2 light dubro on the back wheels and rubber 2 1/2 dubro on the nose wheel for weight also added 2oz to the nose since i was a bit tail heavy now cog is fine

Some time in the future i would like to do some light but do not have time for night flying . http://www.ncweb.com/biz/dan/RCLights.html . i was looking at these but maybe in future

In the earlier post gene was talking bout floats for his ,i also would like to make a set but that will be a winter mod and use them in spring

for realflight i use the nexstar ep

Ron

I assembled the Apprentice today. In general, it went together well, but there were a couple issues.

Upon hooking up power, there was a high pitch whine from the Elev servo, the RX LED was flashing at about 1/sec, and the Elev servo was not glued down tight so it would move fore/aft as you applied elevator up/down. They had used what looked like white chauking to fasten down the servo and it didn't stick to the foam.

I called the shop I bought it from. They thought the whine was normal, probably some binding somewhere, but concerned about LED flashing on the RX and the loose servo. Told me to call Horizon, so I did. They said the whine was probably some binding and the flashing LED was normal. Also told me to re-glue the servo in place.

When I called the shop back to tell them what I learned, they had looked in the RX User Manual (not included with the Apprentice, but on the Web) and it says a flashing LED after connection is due to a Brown Out (temporary low voltage) and this should be fixed before flying agian. Different answer from what Horizon told me!

By this time I had powered up and down a couple times and the LED wasn't flashing any more (doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy).

I hot glued the servo in place after cleaning off original chaulk and it is solid now. Found that the elevator was pressing against the tail when moved down. The tail looked lilke it was beveled too far back, so sanded some off and this helped a lot with the resistance on down elevator and the servo noises.

I also found the power connector from the battery to the ESC was VERY tight...may have to replace or will tear the wires out trying to disconnect it.

I did a taxi test and found the front wheel needed serious adjustment to maintain a stright line (tire axis significantly off from perpendicular to the flat on the shaft that connects to the housing). Wheel also wobbles A LOT. Adjusted clevis to get it straight.

Maybe not serious defects, but shows some lack of QA and I worry about the RX flashing LED...will just have to keep an eye on it. And very concerned that Horizon said it was normal!

Will try to do the maiden when I get back up to Colorado.

Anyone see similar problems? Especially RX issue?

Thanks...and sorry for the long post. Hope it helps others to look for these things.

John

Just looked at another thread on Apprentice and there is a report on a similar RX issue... check out

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...=915223&page=3

post #33 from P.A.fan

>>>>Upon hooking up power, there was a high pitch whine from the Elev servo

----As far the whine is concerned that is the digital servo,i have the same whine on my apprentice and my corsair,and have no problems with many flights on both,also on my t28 which have hundreds of flights that is normal for these digital servo

>>>>used what looked like white chauking

I hate this white caulking they use i wind up re gluing most of the stuff with clear silicone adhesive,you can buy a tube at the parts store for a couple bucks my t28 and corsair first thing is to re glue landing gear plates this with this white stuff they rip right off on grass landing,but thats another thread

>>>>LED flashing on the RX

---Read the manual,i am not saying you did not but it sounds like it is ready to bind,for some reason it might have lost its binding,read the part on binding and do a range test and it should be fine,i used the ar5000 that came with it then the ar6200 then back to the ar5000 because i was borrowing from plane to plane and have no glitches or problems i have flown this to where its a dot in the sky and have not had a problem,i am not saying nothing is wrong since i am not looking at it just go threw the procedure first before sending it back

>>>>I also found the power connector from the battery to the ESC was VERY tight

----mine were the same and so are others,i changed all my planes from ec3 to deans ,the deans are so much smoother and i also extended the wire from the esc a couple inches

>>>I did a taxi test and found the front wheel needed serious adjustment

-- I was lucky here mine was straight as an arrow,i changed to bigger tires and it still taxi nice and straight ,i think i put a inside collor on the front wheel with the new tires to keep it from hitting the wire

hey is this perfect no none of them are but for the price and what you get its a great flyer and me and my son have had a great time with it.i love flying this as much as the warbirds,its a great flyer very predictable and lots of fun

Ron

i am sorry for the earlier post my wheels mod size are 2 1/4 not 2 1/2 i was only a quarter inch off so thats no bad

Ron

Here are some photos taken from the 8.2 megapixel Kodak camera on my boy's Apprentice on Sunday.

Just bought this plane tonight. Called the LHS and told them to charge the battery. I picked it up brought it home and put her together. Then it was off to the park down by the river. Wish the ground was smoother, but off she went mowing the grass. Iwill say that the flight was a joy. Landing was great too. Dead sticked her in with no problems. I say no power on landing and a nice three point is good. Well felt good about flying her so went back up for a second flight. Was uneventful until coming around for final. Had to dive in to clear between the trees. Flared up with no power to bleed off speed and then it happened. Wings folded and of course she is nose heavy without a wing to support her. Yep motor mount and cowl now small bits of plastic. Upon crash analysis I found the wing tube broke causing the wings to fold. Now that makes me mad because my landing was looking really good too. OK happens and we laugh it off and buy parts to repair and fly again. Well thats not going to happen for a while. I just found out that the parts aren't in the warehouse yet. I should be able to fly it again in a week and a half provided the parts come in.

Thanks Ron for the feedback. I agree that most of this is just small stuff that you deal with. I was most concerned with the RX. I did read the manual online and believe it is not a binding problem, but a Brown Out problem. The range test is fine. I just have to see if there are loose connections or something if I see it again.

I think is just important for folks to look a little more closely at all the elements before going from box to flying.

Can't wait to get her in the air.

John

Originally Posted by CapMike

Just bought this plane tonight. Called the LHS and told them to charge the battery. I picked it up brought it home and put her together. Then it was off to the park down by the river. Wish the ground was smoother, but off she went mowing the grass. Iwill say that the flight was a joy. Landing was great too. Dead sticked her in with no problems. I say no power on landing and a nice three point is good. Well felt good about flying her so went back up for a second flight. Was uneventful until coming around for final. Had to dive in to clear between the trees. Flared up with no power to bleed off speed and then it happened. Wings folded and of course she is nose heavy without a wing to support her. Yep motor mount and cowl now small bits of plastic. Upon crash analysis I found the wing tube broke causing the wings to fold. Now that makes me mad because my landing was looking really good too. OK happens and we laugh it off and buy parts to repair and fly again. Well thats not going to happen for a while. I just found out that the parts aren't in the warehouse yet. I should be able to fly it again in a week and a half provided the parts come in.

Capmike sorry to hear bout your maiden flight,nothing worse than a wing coming off and watching you brand new apprentice hit the ground.i am curious bout what caused the wing failure you say it was the tube ,i guess you me the reinforcement rod in the wing or did the wing separate at the spot where it is joined by the 2 adhesive strips , i added clear packing tape at this seam on the bottom of the wing for insurance but they still should have held the wing,could you add some pics

Ron

>>>Hey Wokeman nice pics i love the high altitude shot.this is a great plane for AP you can slow it to a craw and go to high altitude and still see it,how did you mount the camera and how did you activate it to take the shot


SIr crashalot

I think is just important for folks to look a little more closely at all the elements before going from box to flying.

---I defiantly agree since this is a new plane and there is not as much feedback as other planes say the corsair or t28 or SC.which have hundreds of pages of discussion.it is good that you are checking everything.i hope more people get into this thread and give more feedback

as you see in the thread from capmike i am not sure what caused his wing to fold but i put some clear packing tape on the bottom of my seam where the wings meet just to reinforce those 2 adhesive strips i have seen my strip sticking up and pushed it backdown but just for added insurance i added the tape,i have done loops rools and most acrobatics and had no problems with the wing,

Ron

The spar tube that slides into the other wing failed at its root. I will post pics in a few minutes Seemed odd that this failure would happen. Especially with CF. Calling Horizon right now.