RE: Trim colors to improve visibility and judgement in pattern flying
I spent about a year looking at color schemes and remember walking around the nats a few years ago just observing the visibility of airplanes while flying. The main thing I noticed is that once a plane got anywhere near the sun, toward the end of the box (especially if at the top of a long upline), or on a cloudy day the actual colors weren't as important as the contrast between them. I didn't really matter the actual color but as long as there was a large contrast between them the airplane was very visible. So the actual colors make your plane look good on the ground and the contrast between those colors make the plane visible in the air.
Rick