Ok, Ok,,,I need some help. My red 4*60 sometimes gives me orientation trouble. Don't want it to look too cheesy though. I'm considering putting some white or yellow color tape to look like stripes from wing tip to wing tip(have some left over from my Zagi building days) Any other suggestions? Colors,,,designs,,what would look good with the Sig 4* red?

Do a white starburst pattern on the top and some leading edge to trailing edge white or yellow bars on the bottom. Usually helps for me.

Use diag stripes from yellow, to orange to blue or other contrasting colors.

Cruzomatic,
It's not just you, I'm having the exact same problem with the same plane. I placed large ultracote checker board along the bottom, also 2 12 in wide white strips starting near the tips. It really did help, but I'm also still looking for ideas.

I added wide yellow ultracote stripes on top of the RED on the bottom of the wing. I put one at each end of the wing, and in the middle. It works great and is easy to see.

Are ultracote stripes sold like peel-n-stick or would I have to buy the whole roll and do the whole heat gun, iron thing. Sorry,,just never really payed much attention to that section of the LHS.

Sorry .... but ultracote is the "whole heat iron/gun" thing. It's what your plane is currently covered in right now (except it's branded as Oracover because it was imported from ger to china)

There are pro's ad cons, I think it's easier to remove than the stick and peel with some heat, so if it's not good enough you can make changes (I've done the 2x already to increase visability). Lot's of pro's here who can help with your ultracote questions. I'd be curious what you finally come up with. Mike

Hey Mike,,

We're having the same trouble seeing our red 4*'s in the air. You do it first, then let me know. I'm too chicken to take a knife to it,,,

Cruzomatic,
There is no real surgery required, unless you're a purist about this. I did not cut the original covering off the plane, just placed the white stripes directly over the existing covering. In fact I actually covered the entire red bottom of the wing with a 1" checkerboard ultracote. Since this did not work very well for visibility I then placed the white 12" stripes over the checkerboard (3 layers and still holding strong !). This is visibly better, but you can see some checkerboard through the white. I now might try to add another white on the white to brighten it up, or remove the white then the checkerboard under the white, then re-apply the white (sounds much more complex than it is!). Anyone have any suggestions, ie another white covering, or to remove the checkerboard the re-white ?

Mike,,

Are you able to post pics? I'd like to see your plane.

I finished mine in the Suhkoi scheme and put invasion strips on the bottom of the WHOLE wing and H-Stab. Almost no way you can get disoriented with that scheme.

I have strips each measuring 3" wide black on white on black, etc. You could mess with different colors, but you can't beat black on white.

You really want the highest possible contrast, so black and white is good. Some say black and yellow is more visible on many days, but....

I would cover the last 4" of wing in black, then a 6" band of white inside that. (Or leave the outer 4" red.) The contrasting white band should help with visibility.
Dennis-

Mine is not a 4 Star 60 ARF but a 40 kit. But I really had a problem with orientation till I covered the bottom of the wing with stripes, alternating wing bays.

This is the top.

As far as how I did it, I did not remove any covering. I used the Windex method. Cut out your stripe to the width that you want. I actually made mine the sized to fit from one rib to the other so I wasn't attaching it in the middle of an area with supporting balsa. I then poked a lot of holes in the RED covering where the new stripe would be placed. Then I sprayed the wing and the stripe back with Windex, placed it where it was to be on the wing, squeegied out excess liquid, waited a short time for it to dry, then followed up with an iron set at the temp where the glue is activated (about 210-215*). I was very careful to not press too hard in the middle between the ribs, and it came out great.

Well, there's gaudy and there's not seeing it!

I chose gaudy.

There's a mirror under it and the stripes are Ultracote fluorescent green and mirror silver. The top is Ultracote Fluorescent yellow (safety yellow) and fluorescent Magenta.

I can see this thing through sheet rock!

thanks for posting the pics, great ideas.

Crash that thing needs a volume knob........I LIKE IT!!!

If it ever parts into pieces, how are you going to know what goes where?

I was in the process of deciding what color monokote i want.. I narrowed the choice down to 2: solid red or solid blue.. and then decided to go with red, (TRUE RED monokote)..

Since many of you are complaining about visibility issues, I would like to know.. what exactly is the problem?

Is it the visiblity itself? or the orientation is hard to see from far away? I would think that the red colour is visible from far away..

-eugn

For me the orientation is hard to see from far away. Sometimes I can't tell the roll attitude at a distance.

I was thinking in a checker board tipe of thing in the bottom of the wing.

After having the red plane I would never do it again. Looks good on the ground but it looks black when up in the sky, you can't tell "whether it's coming or going".

After seeing the pics above, I think I'm glad my camera is with my son right now, so it'll be a while before I post my pics.

C&B - Is that the new experimental ultracote on your 4* - the type that runs on batteries ?

That's exactly what I'm talking about. It looks black to me, can't tell which way is which. The nice pics that were added today are a huge help with ideas though.

thanks again, keep 'um coming.

Thanks for the fun comments, guys. I expected to take a little flak with that color scheme, but it's worth it.

When I take it to the field in the cold months, the fliers stand around it warming their hands!

Seriously, I felt it was necessary to try something to help see it better, so I picked the brightest colors I could and it really helps.

Nothing completely helps 100% with old eyes, but the way I figure it, it's like driving with your headlights on....if it gives you a 1% better chance of survival...it's worth it.