I've been flying off and on for the past three years but still consider myself a "beginner." I've been flying long enough to have developed a certain naturalness with the sticks, that is I don't have to consciously think things like "on an inbound plane move the stick in the direction of the low wing." In this sense, I can just "go out there and fly" -- not well mind you but...

Anyway, most of my major pucker moments have been the result of losing orientation on the model for a moment. In one case this resulted in a totalled model when I banked right only to find that the model was already turning right.

What are the tips and tricks to maintain orientation during the flight. I've learned the hard way no to do stupid things like flying my model past the sun. I've also learned that you have to be flying the model IN YOUR HEAD and not just with your eyes, that is, you have to just know what orientation its in because that's the way it's supposed to be. This is similar to the skills required to "fly blind" -- like the time my model dipped behind a tall stand of bamboo and I had to fly it for a couple of seconds on feel alone.

So what techniques have you developed to maintain orientation? Note: Since I'm into scale models the option of doing one side of the wing in orange monocote and the other in pink isn't an option!