Color Schemes, the good the bad and the visible

[John Ferrell]

My eyes would have a problem telling top from bottom. The checkerboard will be percieved as gray.

John Ferrell 
6241 Phillippi Rd
Julian NC 27283
Phone: (336)685-9606  
Dixie Competition Products
NSRCA 479 AMA 4190  W8CCW
"My Competition is Not My Enemy"



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jon Uhler 
  To: 'discussion at nsrca.org' 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 12:42 PM
  Subject: RE: Color Schemes, the good the bad and the visible


  This is the scheme I plan on using for the focus.  Tell me what you think....

  www.torkitordorkit.net/images/Focusscheme.bmp

  The yellow will be cub yellow, the black will be carbon  fiber look on top and black on the bottom, and the gray is metallic titanium.

  Thoughts?

  Jon
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Terry Terrenoire [mailto:amad2terry at juno.com]
    Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 6:36 AM
    To: discussion at nsrca.org
    Subject: Re: Color Schemes, the good the bad and the visible


    Keith: I'm sure you will get many indepth answers with all kinds of numbers attached to show the relative visibility of various colors, but the bottom line is first find out what works for you. Some people prefer yellow as a base, otheres prefer white. Either one will work, it just depends on which your eye is more in tune with. That covers the "light" color. next choose a "dark" color that contrasts and compliments the base color.
    Using white opens more doors. as far as the design, again a lot depends on your personal likes and dislikes, as well as the amount of time you want to spend on the design. curves look good on the ground, disappear in the air, but take longer to do than straight lines.

     a rule of thumb I have been applying for 20 years is to make the wing top 50/50, light and dark, with at least a 10% white wing tip. The white wing tip, or yellow if that is your preference, will show up like it is lit when you pull up into vertical.

    Just my 2 cents worth!

    Terry T.


    On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 23:30:22 -0600 "Keith Black" <tkeithb at attbi.com> writes:
      I'm trying to decide on a color scheme for my new Aries. In doing so my first requirement is that it be easy to see and easy to determine orientation (level wings, etc.). After that comes aesthetics.

      I would think as technical as pattern flyers are many hours have been spent on studying this topic and I'm curious as to what knowledge the members have to share on this subject.

      In looking at a many photos of modern pattern planes I've noticed the following couple of points that perhaps someone can comment on. Is this for form or function?

      1. Many planes have a "wedge" of color on the top root of the wing next to the fuse. In almost every case the wedge is wider at the front and narrow at the back, many times coming to a point in the back. This wedge seems to be used both on planes where the rest of the wing has lengthwise strips and planes where the rest of the wing has a starburst. Does this wedge of color at the wing root help visually in any way?

      2. Quite a few planes seem to leave a white leading edge. For example, the traditional starburst pattern that flares out to the wing tip is often and often times does not include the leading edge. In other words, a strip on the leading edge left white (or the base color). Does this help in visibility?

      I would think there's an entire science behind paint schemes, colors and visibility, I'd love to learn more on this topic.

      Thanks,
      Keith Black 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.f3a.us/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20030305/cf01a8aa/attachment.html