Thanks a lot for the good advice, jtotten, But there will be an AMA Expo in our neck of the woods this weekend and I don't trust my self-restraint.

May I ask what airplane you felt big enough to be comfortable with?

Thanks again, Trish

With any type of vision problem, bigger is better and you don't need to worry as much about speed as that's why RC engines have throttles. You are looking for a wingspan something in the 65 - 75 inch span (or larger if you wish), with a high wing, with a little dihedral. You want a thick, flat bottom wing which most large high wing trainer-type airplanes have. Some of the popular standby trainers are Tower Hobbies "Tower 40" and if you want even larger, the "Tower 60". Every club in the country that does training probably has had a Sig LT-40. These are great flying airplanes with 70 inch spans and they fly great with a .46 size two stroke and will do nicely with a lowly O.S. 40 LA. I too have vision problems that has made it necessary for me to begin building larger airplanes. I find that a red color scheme with wide yellow bands on the bottom of the wing is very helpful. I have a Sig 4 Star 60 that has 1-1/2 inch wide stripes from the wingtip to the fuselage and that is very helpful for orientation. You won't find it at the AMA Expo but Nitro Planes makes a 60 size high wing "Super Trainer 60" (about a 72 inch span) which I have flown for years with a Magnum 61 2-stroke. This thing has been really put through its paces and it will fly slow, fast (fast is relative of course) and it is also equipped to haul a glider space shuttle style to altitude and then released. The glider pilot brings it back to mother earth. But basically a flat bottom high wing trainer in the .46 - .60 size will fill the bill for you. Let the throttle take care of the fast-slow situation. For visibility and orientation, you will just have to experiment with add-on trim strips. Self adhesive strips are available in the covering section at any hobby shop.

Thanks a million, CafeenMan! Those photos really make your point. My only question is whether it could be even better if the white were replaced with yellow or another color I might have a better chance of seeing against clouds.

Thanks!
Trish

P.S. The info on speed is really helpful too.

There's no reason you can't use a light, bright color instead of white. Same with a different dark color than black. I don't know the rules of contrasting colors but I'm sure an internet search could quickly find the best colors for high contrast - maybe even something that works best at longer distances.

You never did say if you wanted to build or buy an ARF. If you want to build I recommend the Balsa USA Stick as the only building involved is the wing. If your unfortunate to have a crash you can repair it easily even a new wing kits is $20.00. It can be flown with a ,25LA to a .45 whatever. It is a realy sweet trainer with the .25 I have one that is 27 years old and flew it with a Fox .25 baffle motor (less power than an OS.25 LA) including carring a 35mm camera. Check it out. Not pretty but covered with your favorite color transparent covering it is a beautiful site with the sun shinning through.

The RTF park flyers do come with everything. You'll want at least 2 batteries, and 3 are very helpful if this is your only airplane. Before long, you'll probably want a better charger ($60-$100) and chances are you'll need repair parts here and there ($15-$30 each time you dink it good). If you plan to fly with a club, which gets you an instructor, you'll also need whatever that costs. Looking forward, that basic 4 channel radio is a one plane radio. To get something that can be programmed for multiple planes, expect to spend around $200 later on. My estimate was to get started with a .40-.60 size glow powered trainer with an entry level computer radio.

I've never flown an Appretice, but I can tell you at my club where the wind is always blowing the Super Cub gets tossed around a good bit. I wouldn't expect the Apprentice to be much better, but that's the trade off you get with going smaller and cheaper on the plane.

Since this is a "try it and see" kind of venture, have a look at the GWS slow stick. It's really cheap but actually isn't half bad for flying. It's also really easy to fix when you crash it, and is perfectly viable as a teach yourself plane.

Rods are only capable of seeing shades of grey, and they are only used at night after a period of dark adaptation. Rods provide a visual acuity of 20/200. If you see any color day or night, you are using cones. Also, if you look at something directly with night vision (rods) the image bleaches out of vision after a few seconds. The object disappears! All of this is important if dealing with colors. Colors are viewed with day vision(cones). And, you don't lose visual acuity as with rods. I'm bringing this up so that there is no misunderstanding how this part of the perception issue functions.

"Can the Real Flight Simulator give you a sense of how visible different aircraft color schemes are at a distance?"
The problem is a matter of contrast. Even a white plane can look black against the sky. I'd say that the average display cannot reproduce the contrast range
enough to really represent the problem. At times, things can be so bad that you end up moving the controls slightly just to see what relative orientation? is between you and the plane.
There are some yellow/orange tinted sunglasses that seem to help.

I think Yellow airplanes show up the best of any solid color, and back in the 1930's the military must have thought so too since the wings of their primary trainers were yellow.

Of all the trainers, the Sig LT-40 is still the best by a clear margin. it's big and only need a 40/45 size engine.

Never trust your eyes when flying. Once the airplane is trimmed out, if you command a left turn - trust that indeed the airplane is turning left and will need right to get the wings level.

Here is a tip if you do get an airplane too far out and unsure of which direction it is going. Just release the controls to neutralize the control surfaces, then pull about half up elevator with at least 3/4 throttle, the exact control throw and engine power based on what does a fairly nice not to tight loop. Assuming you don't wait until it's near crashing from flying too low to start with, the airplane will just start looping. While it's looping, you will have time to either figure out what it is doing, or have time to have another flier cover the distance from where ever he is sitting on the field to get by your side. From the normal two or three mistake altitude, you should have at least a minute to sort things out. Remember though, only elevator when you do this. Any aileron input and it will screw into the ground in just a few seconds. And it doesn't even have to be completely upright for this to work. I normally show this to my students by turning my back on the airplane and having a brief conversation with them while it loops away. One last thing, the airplane does not stay in the same place. Gravity slowly lowers the center of each loop slightly, and the loops will be drifting with the wind. But we should fly upwind as a general policy, because it also helps you get back to the runway if the engine should quit.

Oh, one more thing about depth perception. I think you will do best if you pick a flying station closest to the approach end of the field. This makes it just a bit easier to tell your position relative to the end of the runway.

I agree with those who say at least 5 ft span. Our club has a small field with some trees and a swamp nearby, and some restrictions from the field owner about how far out we can fly.. A popular trainer at our club is the Avistar (about 5 ft wingspan), followed by the oft-mentioned Kadet. Our instructors keep trainees on a buddy box until they are reasonably competent, and I will admit that during some early flights I had problems with orientation on my Avistar that the instructors had to correct. Now I am pretty comfortable with about anything over 3 '. My slowest plane is a Telemaster 40 plane (6 ft) , but we have a lot of days with some crosswind, and the telemaster is a bit more sensitive to crosswind on takeoff and landing. Our instructors favor a trainer with a slightly semi-symetrical airfoil, on the theory that the student will be able to progress a bit further into advanced maneuvers without needing a new plane. For second planes, the Easy Sport and 4-Star are popular.

Probably the best solution.

Thanks again, CafeenMan. Especially for taking the time to upload all those photos taken for different orientations and altitudes. Very helpful!

Trish

Thank you for your reply, loopdeeloop. OK, then. Given the constraints of my RAV4, I’m thinking 60-65 inches, with a high wing, dihedral, thick, flat bottom wing. But, I just read about the Tower 40 and the Sig 4 Star 60 and after all the counseling I’ve been getting here I’m thinking, to start, I should go with an RTF electric foamy - Try to have as many factors working for me as possible. [IMG]file:///C:\Users\trish\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\ clip_image002.gif[/IMG]

Earlier in this thread, CafeenMan uploaded quite a few photos to show me how his scheme of black and white was really helpful to him at distances and in different orientations. So now I’m thinking something like that but using a red and yellow scheme rather than the black and white and also, as you suggest, experimenting with the 1 1/2 inch wide stripes from the wingtip to the fuselage. (I didn’t even know self-adhesive trim strips existed. Thanks!) Do you know of any caveats of what I should/shouldn’t do as far as painting/covering the wings themselves?

Thanks again for your help, loopdeeloop.

Thanks for your input, Mike. Sorry I wasn't more clear to start. Actually, I have so many challenges (beyond the vision, my left arm is partially paralyzed and neck fused), that I think I better start out with a tried and true RTF. However, FPV is something I'm dreaming about - for later on.

Trish

You can satisfy yourself regarding colour, by using your computer' printer.

Print some text in yellow. Print some text in black.

Pin them up and move away.

See which one is first to become illegible.

Thank you for your response, Ozmo. Loopdeeloop suggested using self-adhesive trim strips. That sounds good to me. Experimenting with his wingtip to fuselage configuration plus your “piano keys” near the wing tips. Do happen to have a photo you could upload or point me to?

I just read a write-up in the Sig LT 40 Kadet. I like the lighter wing loading and the slower speeds but I think I better stick with a more manageable 60 inch electric RTF foamy, at least for this go around.

Thanks again,
Trish.

Good idea, bogbeagle, I'll add it to my experiments.. Thanks!

Cool. No worries then.

Thanks again.

Trish

I haven't read any posts suggesting that you go and watch some models being flown. If you are in an area where winter hasn't fully halted flying, go to a local club field, look around, watch some planes, see some trainers, talk to some folks. If you can see someone else's airplane easily, you will be able to see one like it if you have one. In these days of RTF ARFs, you will see lots of color schemes in the air that are straight from the box...again - if you can see theirs, you could see one if it was yours.

Forums are great for what they can do.

You need a flying field with some folks using it to help your decisions. Plus, you may just meet someone willing to share with you what they know.

Here's a great link of images of serious hardware in color schemes to keep people alive in real life - aviation training pilots in our military - these color schemes are selected ONLY because of visibility - ground (or sea) to air, and air-to-air. Noteworthy color choices and patterns -
https://www.google.com/search?q=t-34...w=1280&bih=523

IMO, the "best" visibility trim scheme is a Cub yellow plane with whatever color you like that's dark leading edges on everything and a red fuselage top. Tapering the leading edge dark color to be wider at the wingtips helps too, but I can't explain why. Make the bottom of the wing solid with your dark color and the bottom of the fuselage solid with your light color. That scheme gives you a color contrast against any color sky, and also a distinct shape to see at distance because of the internal contrast on the plane itself. On bright sky days you'll see the dark color at distance, and on darker sky days you'll see the yellow. The Cub yellow as opposed to a lemon yellow is a bit darker and more saturated so it pops against a blue sky better and also will look dark against a white overcast sky.

forget the cub. your much better off with the apprentice. first of all, the apprentice will fly way better and handle a little breeze unlike the cub which gets bumped around easily. also, the apprentice has much better construction and will survive the given bumps and bruises, unlike the cub's type of foam. the apprentice will also have a huge parts availability at nearly all hobby shop, besides online. the quality of flight, construction and electric components are superior on the apprentice. so don't be cheap over a $100 bucks. you get what you pay for including headaches. ive been an instructor for many years and have used both aircraft may times. listen to what im telling you and skip the cub.

the apprentice wing is easily removed for transport too! you can buy your batteries at hobbypartz.com look for a 30c 3s 3800mah , great prices and ships from CA. you only need two packs. you can add whatever decails you'd like for visibility to any plane

Trish - Since the AMA Expo starts today, I hope you have figured out what you will be looking for. Looking at the thread, you have two big choices - a glow trainer of 5' wingspan or larger (useful at most club fields), or an electric - small foamy if you will be park flying, or 5' trainer size for club fields. Here's hoping your choice works out well for you. Please keep us posted on your choice and your flying experience - particularly the "what I wish someone had told me" types of musing.
Here in frigid midwest, indoor R/C has a large following, there are lots of spots for park flying, and its generally not too far a trip for flying the larger (and faster) planes. There is some part of the hobby for any taste. Good luck!

I agree with all that's said here. I had a detached retina 9 years ago and had to get laser therapy on both retinas to "glue" them back to the eyeballs. So I ended up with "floaters" inside my eyeballs that are still there to this day. Soon after that surgery, I decided to take up RC flying because I didn't know how much "time I had left". So, depth perception is one issue, but also having to focus past the "floaters" required training that RC flying is excellent for. I learned that keeping the airplane closer is the best solution for me. Some of my planes I added neon yellow strips to the wing leading edges because it helps me to see the plane as it is coming towards me for a landing. And finally, surprisingly, I have also flown small park flyers that don't give me visibility problems because I can keep them closer to me. If you are going with gas/glow, then go BIG.

Another thing, using dark sunglasses doesn't help my vision either. I think I will try those yellow shades this summer to reduce/eliminate the glare.

Floaters and ringing ears are a part of every day life for me for as long as I can remember. Your brain will forget about the floaters after a while. The only time I see them now is if I look for them. Doesn't bother my flying and I fly just about anything including jets. Don't worry you'll be too busy flying to notice floaters.

True!!! Just keep my eyes focused on the plane.