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Author Topic: Top scheme vs. bottom scheme  (Read 717 times)

Offline Frank Sheridan

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Top scheme vs. bottom scheme
« on: May 10, 2009, 01:03:37 PM »
I've always noticed on most aerobatic planes (full-size and models) that the top and bottom schemes are usually different. I've wondered how this affects judging in competition, both in appearance points and maneuvers (making the plane easier to see?). I've almost always cut corners on my bottom schemes just because you don't see them on the ground up close, and maybe that's a bad thing. Anybody else guilty of this?
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Offline taildragger-j3

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Re: Top scheme vs. bottom scheme
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2009, 04:12:23 PM »
I can't speak for C/L stunt ships, I've never entered a contest where my finish was judged.

About 15 years ago when I started flying R/C I discovered that I needed to have different colors / schemes on top and bottom so I could tell which way was "up"

On my C/L ships, I have got different top and bottom but I never thought about that as a problem.
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David Strawn
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Online Matt Colan

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Re: Top scheme vs. bottom scheme
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2009, 07:15:58 PM »
Quote from: taildragger-j3 on May 10, 2009, 04:12:23 PM
I can't speak for C/L stunt ships, I've never entered a contest where my finish was judged.

About 15 years ago when I started flying R/C I discovered that I needed to have different colors / schemes on top and bottom so I could tell which way was "up"

On my C/L ships, I have got different top and bottom but I never thought about that as a problem.


I wouldn't see that being a problem because you only see the profile of the plane, not the wings like in RC

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Matt Colan

Offline taildragger-j3

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Re: Top scheme vs. bottom scheme
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2009, 08:13:34 AM »
Quote
I wouldn't see that being a problem because you only see the profile of the plane, not the wings like in RC

I agree, it's not an issue on my C/L ships. I hadn't really thought about having different finishes on top and bottom until I got into "the dark side" and it really did help there. Since then, I've noticed that most of my C/L ships DO HAVE different bottom and top schemes, but that has happened more because I was copying an extant color scheme from another airplane, (Thunderbird & Blue Angel schemes) or I've bee too lazy to do something special to the bottom of the wing.
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David Strawn
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Offline john e. holliday

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Re: Top scheme vs. bottom scheme
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2009, 09:02:38 AM »
In the few times I have judged stunt, I have never really noticed the paint schemes.  When I flew R/C, especially gliders, the bottoms were covered with Platinum Monokote.  It is kind of a dark color that showed up real well at altitude.  Also it didn't disappear like some colors when you get high up. 

But, as someone has already stated,  the bottom is usually not as fancy as the top because the top is the part of the plane seen most of the time.  DOC Holliday
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John E. "DOC" Holliday
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