Yup color contrast is a key ingredient but only from the top side of the airplane versus the bottom side but not a color contrast from the left side to the right side as you first mentioned Trish.

And I agree with bobbeagle on the dark colors for me on the top sides. Many of my airplanes I often cover in blacks dark blues and reds. That is quite the opposite of what most Arfs come with and white as the primary color seems to be the predominate color often with multiple fancy color striping on top this for me seems to fad to gray in the very shortest distance and most difficult to maintain orientation. Another problem with airplanes with predominate white colors are they beautifully camoflaged aginst a white cloudy sky.

I find it curious that my aircraft that are warbirds that have a camoflaged military finish have quite the opposite effect and are easier to see I suppose because the colors do tend to be darker.

John