need color advice
 

Im getting a SIG Kobra kit and I already have two of the colors in mind. I want a B/W checkerboard bottom wing and Black for the fuselage. I get the feeling though i should also add a bright color to help keep track of the plane in flight. Anyone have a good idea?

RE: need color advice
 

Hi Ikerus,

You may find this information of assistance. http://www.ultimatecharger.com/color.html

Cheers,

Colin

RE: need color advice
 

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need bright colors. What you need is good contrast, and there is no better contrast than B&W.

Now, having said that, a Checkerboard does not give a good contrast due to the fact that the squares are small. At a distance, they will appear gray.

By the same token, an all-black fuse can worsen the "Silhouette" effect.

So if you want to stick with B&W, that's fine, but maybe add a black band to the LE of the wing on the bottom, and a B&W Sunburst on top - Then some white along side the Fuse would be a plus.

One other thing worth mentioning... If you have a lot of trees or mountains in the background (Or anything else that is dark) Black will just about disappear when the plane is between you and the background

RE: need color advice
 

I personally tend to keep my planes in solid colors but I fully admit that it takes a lot more effort to keep up with orientation. It can be done but be prepared for extra work. Minn has the right idea for the job. I'm just hard headed sometimes. [sm=bananahead.gif]

RE: need color advice
 

Years ago, I covered a plane in multiple colors so that I would be sure to know the orientation when I looked at it. I don't remember the exact colors, but it was something like right 1/2 of wing orange and left 1/2 of wing light blue. I then made the tail yellow (or something). I made the bottom different colors too! So basically, every major area was a different color. This was supposed to help me determine the orientation of the plane at a glance.

2 problems:

1. There were so many colors, I could never remember which one was where. Is green bottom right?? hmmm.

2. It was the ugliest damn plane you ever seen. It looked horrible. People commented: "damn! that's ugly!" 8-)

Needless to say, after a couple of flights I recovered the whole thing with a design that looked similar to the box cover. Much better!

RE: need color advice
 

this is funny from that website


Don't fly when someone with a plane identical to yours is already flying. ARFs and yellow Cubs are particularly susceptible to this problem. Several years ago two fliers were flying with identical ARFs. When one of the models landed, both modelers went out to get the plane. Much to the entertainment of the folks in the pits, one modeler discovered the his plane had crashed out in the field 5 minutes previously because he had lost track of which airplane was his, and he was "flying" the wrong one.

RE: need color advice
 

Read a thread a while back about 3 students that were out flying with their instructors, all on buddy boxes. All of them were flying Nexstars. All 3 crashed. Now that is just plain STUPID. Come on folks, let's get some common sense out there. Those planes should all have been paid for by the instructors IMO. [:@]

RE: need color advice
 

What was said above was great advice, contrasting colors. That's the key to being able to distinguish your plane in the air. But.......... Even with contrasting colors there are some colors that need to be mentioned because they have problems.

Black - Plain and simple, black can be hard to see in overcast conditions or if you are flying near dawn or dusk. They black has a tendency to "disappear"
White - White planes are hard to see when it's cloudy
Silver- silver colors disappear in a heartbeat in all colors
Blue - blue sky, blue plane, you do the math!! :D
Chrome- I've seen a plane covered in chrome monokote that looked great on the ground, but was really hard to see in the air. Imagine flying a plane that looks like whatever the background it's flying against. A true stealth plane if you ask me!!!

I have found that the colors I can see the best are Red and Yellow. If you work those colors into your color scheme it should be easier to see your plane in the air. I recently did a review on [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=745]Model Tech's Mach Racer[/link] (which by the way is an absolute BLAST to fly) and the yellow on the plane saves it every day at the flying field. This plane is the only plane I've ever seen that truly has "unlimited vertical", meaning that it will climb out of sight (and still be climbing). Anyway, I pull this plane into a climb and when I lose it I cut the throttle back, count to 5, and then give it full right aileron. I then watch for the flash of yellow on the top of the plane to find where it is!!!!!!! :D:D

Ken

RE: need color advice
 

I thought I would be able to see this green and yellow color scheme very well
http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/ga...memberId=24522
but it only shows up in bright sunlight, I think that since yellow is a component of green there is not as much contrast as I expected.
I can see red and white about as good as anything else.

RE: need color advice
 

Ah, the advantage of scratch building....you end up with a truly unique plane.:D

RE: need color advice
 

Here is why you want contrasting colors. Look at t he plane below and notice how you can easilt tell top from bottom whether the background is light or dark.

http://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafx/t01a.gifhttp://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafx/t01b.gif

RE: need color advice
 

Someone mentioned checkers for the wing. I tried them and it didn't help the visibility factor as I had hoped it would because as was mentioned the squares are too small to differentiate while in the air. [8D]

RE: need color advice
 

minnflyer - i hope you get paid for doing that 3D rendering and animation! it's amazing the library of RC images you have or are making. ;)

RE: need color advice
 

Whoa boa! Thats some serious computer skills.

Heres what I do on most of my colors. As Minn Flyer so skillfully demonstrated. Most ARFS come in the most ridiculous color setups. Since i recover most everythng I have just for aggravation, I don't worry about it. However. Most all my planes are some solid color (other than white). But the underside of all my planes is solid white. Just stand out better for me rather than any checkers or anything else on the bottom.

RE: need color advice
 

Well, I do computer graphics for a living. These little illustrations I do are just my way of taking a break from the tough things I have to do on a regular basis. [X(]

RE: need color advice
 

In other words - "This is the EASY stuff"? :D Sheeesh!

RE: need color advice
 

Yup, here's the tricky stuff I do:


Take The image of Guitar "A" and make the "B" and "C" image from it. :D

RE: need color advice
 

Didn't know you played gi-tar.:D

RE: need color advice
 

I don't.

I just draw pictures of them - among other things my client's need.

RE: need color advice
 

You are very good Minn. Wonderful work - I went to your website.

RE: need color advice
 

Ah - Ha! Been doing some snooping, huh?

I gotta clean that thing out one of these days, it's got all kinds of crap on it.