The Paladin PL18 radio and its EV counterpart represent a stepchange (in my view) of the ability of RC radio gear. I have used the pl18 in the past but now I only use the EV version.
As noted above there are two versions of the PL18. The PL18 and the PL18 EV. The PL18 is a more general use transmitter and has specific functions designed for air based models . The PL18 EV has two more rotary controls on the sticks and two more switches on top of the sticks AND is designed specifically for surface based models (trucks, tanks, boats and plant). In addition to these there are "Lite" versions which are missing one rotary control, wireless charging and a few other bits.
All are very capable 18 channel transmitters. Flysky do not make an 18 channel receiver but as we will see that does not matter.
I will talk about the EV version here but much of this applies to the base model as well.
The transmitter comes as more or less a blank canvas. So first things first. Turning the unit on is simple but does need you to press both power buttons at the same time ( as does turning off).
Once you have turned on you will see the home screen, which is where we always start from. The home screen has a display for sensors of which one is the transmitter battery voltage. Below that is a picture which you can select and then to the right is a display of the first four output channels. on the top line is the battery status and the, now common, menu logo for accessing the menu. The screen is a touch screen, touching the main area and dragging up opens the system options menu, language, units sound, vibration alerts and backlight brightness and more. We dont need to worry about that right now.
tapping the menu bars opens up the menu pages.
Above is the first set of menus, The other pages can be accessed by swiping left. First stop is the model menu.
Each of the menu items can be accessed by touching them. For example her the Model name here is FlySky11 (It is model no 11!) to change it tap it and a keyboard comes up allowing you all the normal functions, delete the current contenet and type a new name, then touch Enter and then the left arrow at top right. N.B if you do not press enter then your new name will not save!
Next down is Switch model , this shows the current model location but touching it brings up a model selection menu allowing you to activate one of twenty stored models.
Below this is Model structure. Here you can select the model picture and choose some pre programmed names for your channels, This picture shows left and right tracks but touching the box will select or deselect the options.
Having selected the base functions thath we need we can now assign things so use the arrow to get back then select Function Assign, here you can choose the channel for the channel for the function, its control and its trim (if any).
Unlike a lot of othere systems you do not need to have your stick functions in channels 1 to 4, there are no modes and they can go wherever you want, so if its easier to have the throttle in channel 6 then thats fine. 
If you want to choose different locations for functions then tap the channel and function, then you can assign one of your preselected functionsor type your own in by clicking on Custom(nnn) at the bottom.
To assign a control to that channel click the control box and a picture of the transmitter will appear, select the control you want, similarly with the trim function. You can come back and do this as many times as you want, so get the model working and keep going.
I think thats enough for now, in the next article we will dig a bit deeper.