Is “cub yellow” dark enough to melt frost in sunlight?

I was watching “Supercubs II: hardcore!” the other day and 40:33 minutes in, Vern Kingsford remarks “A dark surface will absorb the light, and create heat. Even though the temperature right now is approximately 5 degrees above zero, Fahrenheit, if you were to put this wing into the he sun, if there’s any frost on it, within a matter of 15-20 minutes the wing is clear. Versus if you have a pure white wing, like you can see right here on the strut, the frost will stay there all day in these temperatures.”.

in the video, the cub seems to have a dark red fabric on the wings.

I am wondering if the traditional cub yellow is sufficient to have this effect on frost, because that seems like a light/bright color to me. Is something darker than yellow ideal then, in cold weather, or is white the main color to avoid? I know wing covers are a thing, but frost can form fast sometimes.

It depends on the conditions. White wings defrost in the sun but dark wings defrost faster. I assume yellow would be in the middle. In any case preventing frost buildup is the better strategy.

My experience is that yellow is pretty neutral and doesn't melt off as well as something of a darker shade.

What yellow is good at is attracting flies however! For some reason all sorts of bugs gravitate towards a yellow plane.

Dupont provided this chart to us years ago....but it's pretty generic. There's factors that influence the absorption, such as certain components of the base..... but it'll give you a pretty good idea

Take a peek at item 307 on the Type Certificate ATC 627 for the Waco ZGC-7.
https://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/0/5c5e9ec9463c32518525673f0048e741/$FILE/ATC627.pdf

Look at what they are listing for the weights of the different colors. It ranges from no weight change of aluminum to an added 51 pounds when painted with French grey.

Yellow is not on the list.