ORIGINAL: Campgems

Sorry to hear about your loss. As the old saying goes, been there, done that. I know how it feels.

When you get into a day with the clouds you describe, color doesn't mater much. At best, you get a silhouette, unless you keep them in close. Myself, I like to be about four mistakes high as my reaction isn't as fast or accurate as it used to be.

As for the all white, I don't like that, even though I have one plane that has an all white top on the wing. The fuselage is white on the sides with a multi color turtle deck and a red nose. The bottom of the wings though are big, 6" wide bars of white and Teal. Other planes I have, have the same bottom wing pattern, but with yellow/red, white/purple, etc. Two colors that really contrast with each other. Nothing fancy, but someting that is very easy to identify.

There is a very good article on how to make your plane visible in the articles section. I don't have acces to it just now, or I would give you the link. The basic point is that you will be able to distinguish pattern vs color at reduced visibility. Make sure the patters are bold and quite different top to bottom.

All this color scheme though goes out the window when you are 500 to a 1000 ft and at a good elevation. A silhouette is all you can hope for then and sometimes it just isn't enough. Personally, if there are to many clouds, especially low ones, I set out the day. I've lost to many planes due to getting them where I couldn't tell up from down. Transparent colors are worse than solids also. My last plane, an ARF which I said I would never buy again, was covered completely in yellow transparent covering. After three white knuckle flights, and almost loosing the plane each time, I skinned the covering off and recovered it so I can see it. What a difference and what a fun plane to fly now.

Don