Covering visibility help
 

Im in the process of creating the scheme for the top of a Funtana X100. Ive cut a template of the design, however am unsure of the right color to use.

I can use silver, but because of the glossy, reflective nature of silver ultracote, I am wondering if this will pose a visibility issue due to reflected sunlight.

I was also considering using the transparent violet ultracote. The problem here is that the bottom of the wing is the same color, and wonder if it would get confusing when things got "interesting".

Any thoughts, experience or ideas would be appreciated.

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Silver is great when it reflects sunlight but almost invisible on cloudy days or when it is between you and the sun. In the second image the wedge between the yellow and the black on the wings and rudder is silver. Looks gray against the gray sky. It's as bad as light blue. Put wide contrasting stripes on the underside of the wings and something totally different on the top. The Contender is featureless orange underneath (hard to see in that view, but the wing tips are black on top) and the Hot Stik is fluorescent green with orange stripes (give you a seizure viewed up close).

Yellow, orange, chartreuse, black and good 'ol red show up well. Contrast darks vs. lights on opposite surfaces. Looking up through a semi-transparent covering that's on both sides of a wing isn't so good.

RE: Covering visibility help
 

I am an absolute believer in Dark on the Bottom, Light on the Top. In normal orientation, the underside of the wing is in it's own shadow, the only time you see that color is in a roll, or while flying inverted. On a cloudy day, as a little distance is thrown in, all color disappears, and is replaced by gray. The only time you can see anything is when you are turning, the contrast between the top and bottom of the wing will show up, but not the colors themselves. On a nice sunny day, with the sun at your back, no problems. Stripes and checker board patterns, covering the majority of the surface, will also help.

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Ditto!

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Do you guys agree with Charlie in that using the Silver on top for the pattern is a bad idea? I totally understand what he is saying and seems to make sense...but just wanted another opinion.

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Being color blind when I do one of my own planes I will be sure to use yellow, I can see that pretty well but as long as I have very contrasting colors I'm OK. I have always used contrasting stripes on the bottom but one day I gave this a shot. Everyone at the field was impressed with how well it stood out even in overcast conditions. I did it just for fun but it really did work out well.

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I agree with Charlie. Silver/White combo is not good

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Lime green it is then. Thank you guys!

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If you intend to fly 3D stuff low slow and close in then a solid flouro orange undersurface and something with white in it but broken up with a contrasting dark colour will work well.

But DO NOT HAVE SOLID COLOURS TOP AND BOTTOM, one solid and one broken up is the way to go.

Why? well you are going to get disorientated and patterns get recognised quicker than colours.

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How do you fly? Do you typically fly you plane "out and high" or "in and low"? I fly "out and high" so I find bolder graphics easier to pick up when I get "behind" the plane (which happens a bit too often) :eek:. If you fly pretty close in and low then maybe less bold will work.

How about background sky? 95% of the time I have a bold blue sky with occasional high clouds. When I lived in Ohio it would have been gray most of the time ;).

How about landing pattern visual obstructions? In the west we have a line of high hills called the hog back (just east of the Rockies). On final approach the wings drop below the horizon. Many covering schemes disappear because the leading edge of the wings don't stand out and all too often the planes land short of the runway (baggie time). In the east it's clear sailing to Kansas. How's your field? Do you need some visual help because of a tree line or hills?

Popular schemes in my area include yellow, red and orange. These colors pop with a blue background. Silvers and grays disappear. Blue disappears. White with dark graphics work well.

I'll attach some images of schemes that I've flown with comments.

Maybe latter on the pics. RCUis having real heartburn with uploading pics. Neither the beta or original flavor want to work ...

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Looking at the pics of your original post the bottom silver feathers over a blue / purple background, I tend to make the feathers bigger. Perhaps make the width of a feather the same as the width between two adjacent wing ribs.

The "tear" on the wing top would look great in red over yellow. Mind if I steal your idea????? You can build a film panel on a big chunk of glass and then apply the 1-piece panel to your wing. That way you don't have to dance with the "trim bubble" devil.

Also, a big checker board pattern on the wing and stab bottoms really pops. Ultracote has a bright yellow / true red that I used on a (planned) plyon racer (World Models Skyraider).

Oh yea - if you look at my avatar you'll see that I voilated dark over light front-to-back theory. This left some shadowing on the yellow-over-orange seam and the orange-over-red seam. I did this because I wanted a solid yellow leading edge for visibility on the final landing approach.

HTH,

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Fluorescent green is easy to see but not my favorite color. My young student spotted a nice plane at an IMAC and took a photo so he could make up a close copy for his own plane. This one was really easy to see!!!:D

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On the bottom wing I put alternating 3" wide white and black stripes. Similar to D Day invasion stripes used during WW 2 in Europe. Actually, when flying my gliders up above 500' nothing really helps, we're just flying by profile anyway.

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Some alternative schemes that differentiate between the bottom and top. These are a Bridi Killer Kaos 60, SSE and Hog Bipe. All 40/60 size models.

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I like your design. What about clear on the LE design with dark blue where the two meet? It would look like the white was tearing off. Just a thought.

David

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Great suggestion David. Ultracote clear is "lite" film and works very well for the LE (and for sealing hinges and the occasional errant weed hole). 

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I really like #2&3, can't decide what one I like best?? No way I would ever be able to keep up with number one though. I'm thinking I may do something like #2 on my next covering job. Thanks for the post!!!

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Things that I learned about covering schemes in the last several days. I finished fixin' my LT-40. The primary covering is Ultracote white. Ultracote true red, bright yellow and black were added. Below are the bottom and side pics. They have remained unchanged. The top went through 3 iterations. White w/ red &yellow. Black stripe added. Yellow stripe added.

I flew on a perfectly blue day. The white really popped but it was a challenge to differentiate between the top & bottom - especially for a trainer to be used as a club trainer with newbie's on the buddy box. So I added the 2" black accent. Well, the black accent was pretty much invisible. Up close big difference, at a couple of hundred feet - red and white. Ithen added the 4" yellow accent. Now the wing top is clearly differentiated.

Btw, the white bottom shows as dark gray when looking up at the plane. The yellow isn't much different. A bold set of stripes (feathers) or a checker board pattern with complementary colors makes much more sense.

Lesson I learned - what looks good on the bench doesn't necessarily translate to lookin' good in the air.

Gray Beard - After this little experiment I'm gonna rethink the Killer Kaos covering scheme!

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Seamus - Thats a really great scheme. I really like the fuse. As mentioned earlier I decided to work with the Lime Green Ultracote. My LHS didnt have it in stock, but ordered it and she should have it tomorrow. It might be a while till I actually get to fly the plane since Ive been so busy with other things, but will certainly post pics of the wings as I make progress. I cant believe its almost July already and Ive only flown once so far :(. In the previous 3 years Im usually about 3 gallons in by now.

Came to the realization that it might have been easier to do the scheme im going for by laying the covering layers prior to covering the frame. I guess you learn as you go. Im still optimistic of getting a decent end result.

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So very true. A pilot in a club I used to belong to built an Astro Hog and finished it in light and dark blue in a Fly-Baby type scheme. It was drop-dead gorgeous. He took off and it vanished. I'm "color deficient" (according to the Marines) and I could barely make it out and had no feel for orientation . Unfortunately, the pilot was worse than me. He handed over his Tx and another pilot landed it without event - said he could see it just fine. Next time we saw it it was yelow and red.

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Oh yea - two "tear" panels for the top and two "feather" panels for the bottom. The only challenge would be picking a background covering color for what I call "base strips" - those 1/4 - 1/2 wide strips that are used where the fin and stab intersect and where the stab and fuse intersect - ensures that you have a fully sealed covering where fuel residue stays on the outside.

I was thinking of a 3-color tear panel. The back (rear) section to the trailing edge in yellow, a shadow section that covers the front of the yellow tear in orange and finally a red section that covers the orange and laps over the leading edge. Kinda like an old 50's flame job with red on the LE then orange and then yellow. Emmmmm ....

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Absolutely.
Silver is a terrible colour for visibility against cloud or haze.

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And I'm thinkin' that psuguru is an expert in flying with a haze or a cloud (or two) ;) ...

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The most visible color combination is yellow with black trim, letters, etc. As a single color red is most visible. At a distance all you see is dark against the sky, so a dark bottom of the wing is good.

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It is no coincidence that the vast majority of civilian small aircraft are red and white or yellow (or yellow and white with black striping, etc.). Contrasting colors that show up against the ground or sky and can be seen by other pilots. Drive by a airfield for inspiration.

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Iguess that part of a covering scheme is that it can be done. I'm having a "change of attitude" towards the complex Killer Kaos scheme posted earlier. How about something a tab bit simplier and easy to differentiate in the air ...

And same with a lite blue background ...

RE: Covering visibility help
 

I think it depends, this Tiger is Platinum Metallic, and dark green metallic, Iseem to be able to see it very well on clear and cloudy days, Ido keep it in close.
ED

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Here is where we are at so far. The edges still need to be trimmed and ironed down, but it doesnt look bad at all! The design that is. The color - Im not to crazy about. :( Its gonna have to do.

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I Like White

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Nice progress. How did you apply the blue "shadows"? Are they under the green? Or butt jointed with the green?

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Thanks!
I cut strips out of Transaprent Violet Ultracote. With the adhesive side up on the green piece, I laid them down on the edges necessary using windex and squeeged everything smooth. Then using the waxed paper backing from the ultracote, I laid it over the covering in those areas and applied a little heat using an iron. You will still need to be careful when pulling the waxed paper off. Just enough heat to dry the windex and get a little tack going for the strips to stick. Trim shadow where necessary with an exacto as you go.

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Emmm - and you posted this thread in the "beginners" forum - yea, sure ;)

I don't understand the "adhesive side up".

I think I heard you say that you laid the violet on the green (green adhesive side down and the violet adhesive side up) so that you could cut get a perfectly matched butt edge. If you did, did you do this before applying the green to the white base? I like the of floating the small trim pieces with liquid (yea, I know, Windex does not activate Ultracote adhesive so we don't need ta go into that issue), butting them against the green, squeegee out the liquid then heating them up. I tried that once but was unsuccessful in removing all of the moisture so when I hit it with real heat bubbles occurred. Gotta admit the the piece that I floated was much bigger than your trim strips.

Thanks for sharing.

Iadded some pearl blue to the otherwise boring top view ...

I'm thinking that some "over-n-under" trim pieces could be treated like you did - resulting in a single "trim"layer. In my case, cutting the blue over the red so that the blue doesn't overlap the red but lies in the red.

RE: Covering visibility help
 

I squeege out the Windex (I use a homebrew equivalent) and then let it sit overnight before heat ironing the pieces in place. The squeegie removes any bubbles and letting it sit seems to prevent unwanted sliding as the heat fixes it in place.

Second image shows black Monokote stripes laid over an orange solid rudder - I wiped the orange with Monokote Solvent and then placed the black over that and squeegied it with a credit card. Again, waiting overnight before I heat ironed the stripes in place.

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Hey Charlie - is all of your film Monokote? Does your home brew include ammonia (guessing that it's the magic activator)?

I tried using a Monokote solvent wash before applying Ultracote over Ultracote thinking that I could slide the trim piece before anything permanent occurred. The Ultracote adhesive immediately set up full strength. I didn't get a chance to slide the trim pieces anywhere.

I like your wall fuse rack. You do something similar for your wings?

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Im learning as I go...what cand I say!

I like the updated scheme you posted.

I did both teh green and purple adhesive side up while setting it all up. If you have glass surface to work on, you can do adhesive down.

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Yes, those images are all Monokote. And the Monokote solvent is unforgiving. Monokote's color is in the adhesive and the solvent grabs it so no repositioning is possible. That's why I only use it for stripes. The homemade cleaner/decal transfer spray is 5 cups water, 1 cup 91% alcohol, 1/2 cup ammonia and 2 tsp laundry detergent. It's known as Jim Quinn's Cleaner hereabouts.

I hang my medium wings in the rafters with Nylon straps. The larger ones I make inverted "T" racks with 1" dowels covered in pipe insulation. Smaller wings I leave on the models.

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RO & Charlie - Thx for the info!

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I covered 1 plane in black, red, and chrome. It was a beautiful plane to look at, except when coming in for landing it disappeared, the wings leading edge was chrome. I got 3 1/2 flights out of it, last flight it disappeared on landing totaling it.

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Finished product. Tail will be finished the same. Funtana decals to be added on ailerons.

Thanks guys!

RE: Covering visibility help
 

Truth be known Idon't believe that there is noticeable differences in the 3 top wing covering approaches.

The reason behind this (IMHO)is that the white spaces between the LEred and black stripe and the black stripe and the yellow stripe neutralize the contrast. Today (nice blue sky with high thin clouds) when flying up-and-away (typical training mode) I really couldn't see anything other than the red LE, yellow tip patches and the white. Hey, it looks great on the ground and gets plenty of compliments but is it effective in flight? Not really. I'm not ready to fill in the white "voids" on either side of the black stripe but if I do I will post the results.

On landing, when the wings dip below the tree line the yellow wing tip patches stand out like landing lights. Pleasant surprise.