rrTV-PHOTO   New HD TV
HOME   rrTV-PHOTO   GALLERIES   MY GALLERY   HELP-FAQ
myHOME PM pmRR MEMBERS 574 ONLINE 25 EVENTS SEARCH REGISTER  START HERE
 
1 page759 viewsPOST REPLY
Advantage Hobby . Revolution Models . CarbonXtreme

.
.
Thunder Tiger Raptors 30-90 - Imperio > Orientation Problem With Raptor 30
 
 
rc_heli_flier
Senior Heliman
Location: Cumberland, Md. U.S.A.

I have just recently started forward flight, and discovered that once the heli gets 100 feet or so away from me I start to have problems with orientation (especially against a cloudy sky). Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what graphic / color combinations are better than the white canopy with the original stickers?

Thanks!!
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
dwaynet
Senior Heliman
Location: Fairfax, Virginia

I have been gathering info for a few weeks in preperation to transform my 50 to see it better due to the same problem. I have decided on neon orange, yellows, and reds as the colors I am concidering. I looked at several planes and helis flying the last few times I have been flying as well as other things in nature / outside that were far away. The dept of motor vehicles use these colors for a reason. Those are the colors that seem to stand out the most to me. Here's what I plan to do:

Paint or use monocote trim sheet on the tailboom. This seems to help alot. Paint the canopy and fins in a fade pattern from red-orange-yellow. this should give me a highly visible bird. Use 2 inch neon strips on the blades 2 inches apart, that should look cool (rebalance of course).

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Dwayne
04-15-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
crash1953
Veteran
Location: Washington State

I have a bunch of rapys and it just takes a lot of practice to get used to seeing the heli's attitude ..i took some monokot trim and did the back of my tailboom and the canopy totally different becausemy biggest problem with it was seein the tail so I didnt know what direction I was going ,even if I could tell I was upright.. that seemed to help me.if you paint the canopy though. stay away from a green .It will dissapear against the blue sky and will look like a blob in the gray cloudy sky ..
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
PAustin
Senior Heliman
Location: Des Moines, IA

Seeing any white or light colored heli in the air is hard to keep oriented
with - especially when the sky is cloudy.

Bright yellow seems to work the best followed by fluorescent oranges.
Reds are ok if you keep them light enough too. If you use darker
reds, they tend to just turn into one big flying dark shadow. Same
goes for darker to medium greens too.


Paul Austin
04-15-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Dewi
Heliman
Location:

what i could suggest for you is to have a bright colour on the left side and the same on the right side of the canopy! As long you remember which colour is for which side? then you should see which way the heli is facing,
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
SkyKing
Senior Heliman
Location: Belvidere, Ill

You will find that everybody "sees" certain colors better than others. It varys from person to person. For me it's Yellow (John Deere) and Red. This is good for me to see on a clear day and good enough for me to see on a cloudy day. The contrast in the color is what makes the difference. Go to a field and watch some others fly their helis. You will soon see that a couple of colors will seem to pop out to YOU. Those are the colors to use. I use the same colors on all my helis but one and that is a night flyer. It is dark blues, purples, and black with lightening bolts, but you can't see the color at night anyway. I also use a rose tint sunglass on cloudy days, it helps bring out the color of my helis
Hope that helps
Terry
04-15-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Heli-Driver
Elite Veteran
Location: Arlington, TX

Cloudy skies

Guys,

I was out flying this weekend against an even gray cloudy sky and I couldn't believe how hard it was to see my heli when it was up high or far away. Big difference!

My heli is flourescent yellow on bottom then bright orange and bright red on top and I still had trouble seeing it at distance.

Seems like the sun (or should I say "lackthereof") has a lot to do with it and the color of the sky didn't help. If I had a stock white canopy I doubt I could have seen it at all at times.



Raymond

Predator Gasser SE/231 X 2
Century Helicopters
04-15-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Mike99
Veteran
Location: Canal Winchester, OH

I have to agree with Topdogg.... I painted mine red on the bottom and High Visibility Yellow on the top, with a yellow boom. With Plastikote bumper paint from Pep Boys the job was nearly painless and I can see it on sunny or cloudy days. Wash with soap and water, sand with 400, apply one coat of plastikote adhessive accelerator, then add three coats of color. Finish it off with clear to fuel proof it and you are done. For the first canopy don't worry too much about the finish as they all look the same at 100 feet away...

Mike99
04-16-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
ChopperDude
Senior Heliman
Location: Round Rock , TX

I got a yellow tail boom from Rick's for about 8 bucks....I got great graphics from www.boomstrike.com.....mine is special ordered...bright orange flourescent on the left side and bright yellow on the right...I can always tell my orientation....the tail fin and top fin are bright orange so I can tell top from bottom...hope this helps....Bill
04-16-2002 Over year old.
 
 
rc_heli_flier
Senior Heliman
Location: Cumberland, Md. U.S.A.

Thanks...

I think I am going to go with some sort of bright orange color for the canopy and fins, and maybe even the boom. Maybe I will try to get some of the Raptor 50 decals (purple to match some of my upgrade parts!!!).
04-16-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Bob K
Heliman
Location: Kansas City, Mo.

As far as visability , the "Blue Angels" blue &yellow paint scheme is hard to miss. The dark blue will give you contrast against the sky and the yellow will help when trees and grass are in the background. I havn't painted my raptor yet, but I'm really giving these colors serious consideration.
04-19-2002 Over year old.
 
 
scott3
Senior Heliman
Location: Pensacola Florida

A nice set of white sab blades sure seemed to make mine stand out. You can see that white disc a long way off. Real easy to tell which side is up. Heli above disc = inverted and heli below disc = right side up.
04-19-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Smokinjo
Senior Heliman
Location: Memphis TN

Also get a set of amber shooting/driving glasses for a cloudy day or evening. You will be really surprised how well that will brighten things up.
04-19-2002 Over year old.
 
 
gforce
Veteran
Location: Jacksonville FL

I just painted cub yellow on top and fire engine red on the bottom of my Rap 30 canopy. It defenitely made it more visable. The red was a little dark in certain orientations, (in a shadow). I think a brighter red, maybe something like a bright orange would actually work better. The yellow showed up real good. I was flying in clear blue skies today, and it was much better than the stock white canopy. Plain white on a cloudy day for me is very hard to see.
04-22-2002 Over year old.
 
 
1 page759 viewsPOST REPLY
Midland Helicopters . HeliProz . ZoomsHobbies

.
.
Thunder Tiger Raptors 30-90 - Imperio > Orientation Problem With Raptor 30
 PRINT TOPIC Advertisers 

Subscribe to This Topic

Friday, January 9 - 5:40 am - Copyright © 2000 - 2009 runryder.com | email | link to rr | runryder needs cookie