I flew a new ARF the other day, in very grey overcast , with light fog .
There were several other models there - which had high contrast color schemes.
They were easy to follow.
The ARF we flew, had a striking scheme, which had one dark wing panel and the other panel ended in white.
In the air it was apparant that the white panel simply could not be seen.
The model looked like one panel was sawed off!
I have never had this type of color setup and was really surprised at how it affected attitude recognition.
In perfect flying weather -this problem would not amount to much but if you fly in less than perfect skies, you may want to keep the color contrast such that the wing panels look the same when in the air -at more than 100ft distance..

I'm with you. I have a helluva time seeing white...the problem is even more pronounced with clouds or overcast skies. White is OK for the center or between stripes but it's better (for me anyway) if the tips are darker. Here's the bottom of one of my wings (other side is a mirror image) using a scheme that I thought would be very high contrast...the picture was taken on an overcast day. Symmetry seems to help also...maybe it's a mental thing.



-Tom

Me to big problems... not with orinetation...just seeing the little b#stards. Getting to old.
I tend to keep the art designs to the top of the wings and use a flat colour with high contrast (read white) simple graphics on the bottom.
I don''t mix 'em up. Top surfaces arty, bottom functional.
Tend to use the same colour all the time. Yellow is the key. It's highly refective and will transmit it's colour even at distance on cloudly day's. Unlike ever all colour that will, with distance just blend into one. You don't need much and keep it on one side only.

Do it with only one eye that is 20-30 in vision.
You fly the silhouette

Flew the plane again today - sky was better so the sawed off wing was not as bad .
BUT for my own planes - you can bet your mass that there will be none of this
Here is a scheme which works well in any sky condition.

I can't see well so neon is good....JW

I have a Tower Uproar (kit) that I covered with black Ultracote on the underside of the wings and red Ultracote with yellow scallops on the top side. Even rolling like a deamon in bright sunlight it is very easy to tell top from bottom. On an overcast day, I cant tell top from bottom and have to count the rolls to tell up from down.

Roger that on the yellow and the functional bottom . Here is a great scheme for visibility.

First time I flew in low lighting I just ended up landing pretty fast!!! White and blues etc are not good for low lighting at all. What FUBAR ONE has is great, I found from seeing many planes that YELLOW is one of the great colours. On a clear blue sky the contrast is stark and the plane's outline CRISP!

My advice is for you to go to the gas powered car forum and see the nice FLORESCENT colours that they use! Heheheeeee ... that would be great ...

Maybe we need to form a new group here (like the "pro-bros" )[")] calling ourself's the "Blind Guys" . I too I'm getting old, and can't see. I've have learned to fly closer, because with most ARF's you just don't have a choice. BTW, my LHS tries to order yellow and red ARFs when he has the choice; just for this reason.

Out at the field, they call me the "Blind guy"....Hmm???? I do sell window blinds.

I got a great piece of advice from an old flyer ... get BIGGER planes!!!

You mean I am not the only one that is
finding it more and more difficult to see these
things ?. You can sign me up for that blindman's
club:-'
I have tried a couple of bigger planes.. Problem is
out of habit I guess I end up flying them further away
until they appear the size I am used to seeing with the
smaller ones. Guess I have to concentrate on closer.

DH,
This "sawed off wing" was it Dales plane ?????????

One thing I just did a couple of weeks ago was have Cataracts removed from both eyes, boy does that light thing up.

I will probably be accused of being too old to fly -by guys that just fly up close and hover
But
We fly aerobatics based on seeing -then changing attitude -then correcting as needed
This all happens pretty fast and we do it unconsciously.
The key point is that the attitude recognition must be instant.
The paint shemes with pronounced differences on left to right panels - can change the ingrained recognition bank in your head.
Everyone has therir own favorite schemes .
Red and alternating cub yellow seem to be the best
Then red and alternating white.
Our WH 35% Extra really showed up in foggy skies - Brian added large squares of white to the all red undersides and this was also a big help.
We once did a pattern plane in teal - and fine cream trim lines.
It was a stealth setup - just went invisible on bright days. awful scheme
The addition of cross box maneuvers -years back, added to the color sceme question
One huge reason that no one flies little planes in IMAC is that the recognition is far more difficult .
If you fly pattern in close -- the time frame collapses and everything happens too fast.
For doing 3D stuff - color recognition is not a problem- the plane is up close and going up and down ,easily seen and followed.
I knew I wasn't the only one with color recognition issues -
I wondered tho, if anyone else had tried the asymmetrical schemes -and how the schemes worked for them.
The underside shown here , is on a blue /yellow upper scheme -
This scheme -on an 80" span, shows attitude -even at a distance.

I hope color recognition will be a lot better now that the Cataracts have been removed.
Up until a few years ago, I flew primarily Helicopters and color itself didn't mean much to me, I think more so because the target was too small.
I have tried all kinds of combos (on heli's) including every fluorescent made. The only thing that works is contrast. If I made the windshield an opposing color it was much easier to recognize attitude, still a small target but greatly improved.

On fixed wing, I have also found the Cub yellow to be better for me than light yellow. I was using it with dark blue, it will be interesting to see if red will be better now. Before the surgery, red looked pretty much black at altitude.

Large stripes or blocks as you show are without a doubt better for me also. I have a 30% Extra with Cub yellow and what I thought at the time, BIG checker board blue squares, Ha, it just looks like a blur at altitude.

any checker smaller than 4" square is no good
- on our aerobatic stuff , we try to keep all contrast areas at least 4" and bottom stripes/blocks 6" or more.

Unfortunatley for us pattern guys we can't fly closer. 150m out and across.
At that distance, when you go to the 60 deg markers and pull a cloud-buster vertical... I mean... it's a god damn blury speck in the sky. It's real amazing that the aeroplane goes up straight, comes down straight, executes all the point rolls in the middle and comes back on line!
Jez there a lot to be said about trimming.
I've just got to get the eye's worked on.
Anyway...we all agree about yellow!
Now, were's the white stick and the dog?

that is why we all need to go out and get a 120" span plane, they may make some in 3D even!!! Heheheeee ... imagine a 120" doing induced flat spins and all the other nutty 3D stuff ... fun fun fun.