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Black airplane?

Brian M said:
I've thought about this quite a lot and wondered why there aren't more orange airplanes out there. My ride is brown with yellow stripes, but if (when) I repaint it, I'll likely go with blaze orange. I like the look, but mostly I like to be visible.
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Mr. Brian;

I've only ever seen one - orange aircraft that is. We called it the flying pumpkin. It was very easy to see in the air - and honestly I liked the color. It was a Cessna 150 that my friend bought for resale. Don't recall the number right now, but I'll bet it's out there somewhere. This all happened back in the late 80's or early 90's

Like you, the next aircraft (and all subsequent aircraft) that I have cause to paint will be Bright Orange.

ROA
 
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The darker shade of yellow (lock haven yellow) and bright orange are very visible colors especially in wooded terrain. There is a company Crowman with cub yellow S61 Fire helicopters, very easy to see from far away, looks like flying bananas.
 
If you want to be visible against any background add flashing lights. Lots of lights. No color is immune from disappearing into the background. Especially a cluttered City background.
 
Here's a chart that DuPont sent out a while back, showing the temperature relations of certain colors. There are variables in all this, as in the formula of the paint, so it's not absolute in concrete, but you get the idea.....
John
 

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Marty57 said:
They are different tapes; already shrunk when you get the new roll. You can't pre shrink your own tapes; at least I have never seen that done. Aircraft fabric shrinks 10% as you go through the shrinking process from 250-350 degrees. Preshrunk tapes will not shrink and can't be used in any area where heat is needed to form the tape, like around a wing tip. As the name implies, the fabric is preshrunk and will no longer shrink like standard tapes when exposed to heat.
Marty57
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Understood, thanks!


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If that's the case, use combinations of greens and browns with a few slashes of black. Works well around heavy vegetation. Looking down, use the predominant colors of the vegetation. Looking up, should be color of the sky.

Web
 
wireweinie said:
If that's the case, use combinations of greens and browns with a few slashes of black. Works well around heavy vegetation. Looking down, use the predominant colors of the vegetation. Looking up, should be color of the sky.

Web
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How about black on the back (polyurethane or poly-tone) and silver (poly tone, easy to repair) on the tail and wings like the CubCrafters? I don’t think silver could get as hot as black.

Image1626041648.794032.jpg




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Hafta chime back in here.
Web, you really should have. We could have gone off topic in a hurry.

Local Stearman is all black, with strobes. Only Stearman I have ever almost seen with strobes.

Even with strobes, and even with the tower pointing him out, he was tough to see. Haven't seen it in about five years, but know it is still lurking in a hangar close by. Beautiful restoration.
 
Two neighbors have Carbon Cubs. One in dark olive drab and the other in black with digital camo. Neither would be easy to see in twilight or cloudy conditions. Bright sun? All planes are easy to spot. If you want to go full stealth? Fly in the dark.
 
Superflite makes pre-shrunk tapes. Cub Crafters has built several black Carbon Cubs and I haven't seen any shrinking tapes issues. Several black Cubs in Alaska. Would melt frost quick but I wouldn't want one if outside a lot in Texas.
 
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