COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Are planes harder to see when its cloudy out?What color or combination of colors are good for under the wings, My plane is white and it is hard to see when its cloudy out.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Yellow or orange is probably the easiest to see. I generally cover my wings in yellow and I will add red stripes about 3 inches wide or so, diagonally on the top wing. This gives good visibility and I can easily see whether the plane is upright or inverted.

DaveB

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Yea, white, Grey or light blue are the worst

It's not so much "what color" as "what "Combination of colors" is what's important.

A red or black airplane can be seen easier than a white airplane, but they can get lost among dark backgrounds.

The best combination is light and dark colors with bold patterns.

Personally, I like white airplanes with red wingtips. Beyond that, the designs are up to you.

http://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafix/Contrast1.jpg

http://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafix/Contrast3.jpg

http://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafix/t01a.gif

http://www.minnartist.net/RCU/grafix/t01b.gif

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Great animation. One additional point is to keep the top and bottom patterns drasticaly different. I always use alternating bars of colors on the bottom of the wing and then something good looking on the top.

Now, on a cloudy day, unless you have flasing strobe lights, at some point, the plane becomes a silhouette and you will have trouble determining direction and orentation. This is a real issue for me and I now will not fly on a cloudy day. I've crashed to many gettting lost. If you keep the planes close in and low, it isn't as bad a problem, but I fly a 4*60 and it require some real estate to keep the three mistakes high in force. The guys with the small electrics keep them in close enough that they stay visiable.

We have another thing besides fog and clouds to consider at our field. The pervaling winds are roughly west to east and they really pick up after mid morning, so we usually quit flying by about 10;30. This time of the year, the sun isn't very high at 8 or 9 and when coming in for a landing, you have a very bright sky as a back drop and your plane again goes silhouette, reguardless of the color scheme.

Don

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

What Minnflyer said above was spot on the money. Blue, grey, and white are colors that tend to disappear. For me red and yellow are the colors that stand out and are easier to see.

Ken

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Thanks for the input. This will help me out,good job on the animation

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

http://www.carlgoldbergproducts.com/images/12091.gif

The picture doesn't do this justice. Fluorescent lime green on the bottom and safety yellow on top, with fluorescent red and B&W checkerboard trim. I'm assembling this ARF and think I am about to have seizures under my shop lights. Oh, and I've got a big red spinner for her. ;)

I'm thinking a set of the pink DuBro skis for off the snow this winter.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

on a sunny day even white is dark on the bottom of wings and horizontal stabs....you can see the colors best when the sun hits them as in a bank or high angles of attack....therefore I like to put on a stripe or make my rudder different than the fuselage..and a nice stripe on the bottoms of the wings..plus I put my AMA number on the top of the left wing like the old registration number.
as for colors..orange, yellow, or hot pink show real well

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

And rely more on the pattern than the color. The eye can only see small areas of color out to a limited distance. Then the color goes to grayscale. So you still see the pattern when it is made of white and at least middle color shades or darker colors. So make the pattern of white and any darker shades of whatever color you like. And when you get out beyond where you eye can still see the color, it'll see the pattern.

Glider guys learn this the first time they start experimenting to find the color that's visible from the greatest distance. They discover there isn't really one.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Most of the time you are going to be looking at the top of the plane so that's where you need the colors. If you watch most planes the bottom turns dark ( DOOM ) as you turn away so why even bother with the bottom unless you fly in real close all the time. Red and yellow are good colors and really stand out. ENJOY !!! RED

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

i have neon orange and neon green on the bottom of my wing very esay to see even on a small plane, the green sticks out real nice

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

After crashing my Tower 40 Trainer one too many times, I had no choice but to re-cover this thing and used white Monokote on the fuse with a red and blazing orange marking film covering the " cabine " with a stripe going back to the tail . The wing I left essentially the same as before with the Tower decal on top and a red dot on the bottom LH. This thing may look now as ugly as a spotted hyena but it at least is visible when in flight...

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

NEON green may be the most SEE-able color to the human eye followed by neon orange. I have been amazed at how visible black combat ribbon is compared to other colors. yellow and black are often used in signs for good reason. I like a bottom wing piano key pattern on my planes. most colors ..red, blue, etc. even white turn to "practical " black at a distance.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Hi All,

You might to look at the following links. They give what seems to be a pretty common colouring strategy, and not really different from the above comments:

http://www.ultimatecharger.com/color.html

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/show...&highlight=ege

enjoy,
Dave

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Personally I have found that Cub Yellow with Dark Blue stripes/trim works the best against either blue sky or clouds. But those neon colors might be better yet...

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Again, you are going back to what I was saying earlier... It's not so much the colors, but the color combination - Light, and dark

And I should add that since the bottom of the plane always appears darker than the top, it's also a good idea to put more dark colors on the bottom - to sort of "keep" it dark

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

Yep. If you have bars on the upper wing leave the lower solid. That wild Hot Stik I showed is "plain" Fluorescent lime green underneath with wide black bands on the wing tips and one red stripe just indide on the wing & horizontal stab.

Wheel pants can be a big visual aid, also. Unfortunately, I have had grass field complications with most of mine.

Had a guy in our club did a drop-dead gorgeous finish on a Sig Astro Hog in sky blue with sapphire blue trim in a 30's era GeeBee bat-wing style. Sky camo, unfortunately.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

My 4*60 is done in neon colors, yellow on top wing with green strips and pink on bottom of wing. Blue fuse. and I don't have any trouble seeing it or it's attitude in flight.

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

here is my wing this is on a pulse it a small plane and still be hard to see. i my lose the plane but the green just pops

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

[color=#FF0099]Charlie,
"PINK SKIS"? ... I may want to fly up north in the winter just for those skis!!!:D
Bev

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

I need a pilot for under that canpoy but I can't find a Phyllis Diller doll (a version of the claymation puppet from Mad Monster Party would do nicely). :D

http://www.tvparty.com/vgifs8/madmonster3.gif

RE: COLOR FOR VISABILITY
 

I covered my LT-40 with Cub Yellow MonoKote and have NO problem quickly picking it out of the sky with 5 or 6 other models aloft.