 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
After you have located your airplane and estimated how
far away it is, you must immediately recognize several
attitude orientations:
Is it flying toward me or away from me?
Is it upright or inverted?
Are the wings flat, vertical, or tipped?
Is it flying horizontal, upward, or downward?
Is it flying parallel to the runway or vectored?
Is it flying perfectly vertical or skewed sideways
or fore/aft?
The following suggestions will help you with distance and
attitude perception. Visual acuity and contrast perception
diminish with age, but by using correct color concepts,
even senior fliers will find that visual orientation of their
aircraft can be consistently and reliably achieved.
Solid-Colored Aircraft
RC airplanes are flown in all kinds of weather and
background conditions. A solid-colored aircraft will sooner
or later fly into a condition where it blends into the
background. This will result in a complete loss of location
and orientation since no edges can be perceived. The
absolute worst, in my opinion, is a silver Mustang in a
heavily overcast sky. Yellow Cubs are tough to see when
back lit by the sun. I had a dark green airplane that would
disappear when I landed with a background of green
trees. Red Stiks and dark blue airplanes go invisible in
late evening and storm conditions. A solid-colored
airplane is easier to cover, but it won't do you any favors
up in the sky.
Wing and Horizontal Stabilizer Shades
The top of the wing and horizontal stabilizer is normally lit
by sunlight. The bottom of the wing and horizontal
stabilizer is shadowed. Coloring the top lighter and the
bottom darker keeps this same relationship even in
changing lighting conditions.
ARFs are classic blunders in coloring. Either they have
identical top and bottom wing colors, or they put some
token color on the top of the wings and leave them white
underneath. They look good in the store, but don't help
the beginner at all.
I always recommend that beginners cover the bottom of
the wing and the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer with
dark-blue contact paper before flight.
When flying at a distance of 500 feet or more (depending
on the size of the model and lighting conditions) you can't
see colors, because the cones of your eyes that perceive
color are 2,000 times less sensitive than the rods, which
perceive illumination.
Doug Goldman made a 1st motion to nominate Leon for
President, Ray made a second motion and Leon
accepted.
John Moen made a 1st motion to nominate Kevin for
President, Darin made a second motion and John
accepted
Doug Goldman made 1st motion to nominate Kevin for
secretary/treasurer, Ray made a second motion, and
Kevin accepted.
Darin made a motion to nominate Wayne Barta for Vice
President, Doug Goldman made a 2nd, and Wayne
accepted.
Rusty made 1st motion to nominate John Moen for Vice
President, Ray made a second motion and John
accepted.
Leon made 1st motion to nominate Doug McFarland for
safety officer, Doug Goldman made a 2nd motion, and
Doug McFarland accepted.
John Moen made a 1st motion to nominate Rusty for
secretary/treasury, Leon made 2nd motion and Rusty
accepted.
Rusty made 1st motion to nominate Darin for safety,
Doug McFaland made a 2nd, and Darin accepted.
Rusty made a motion to close nominations. The
President made a second motion, all nominations are
now closed.
Rusty won 50/50 drawing and donated money to the club.
John Moen made a motion to adjourn meeting, Ray made
a second. Meeting adjourned.
Color Theory for Models
Choosing the Right Color
All RC fliers have gotten that "I can't tell which way it's
going" feeling when learning to fly RC. Several simple
color trimming steps can help you fly your airplane better,
whether you are a beginner or top dog in Pattern.
Most airplanes, especially ARFs, are covered or painted
to look good in the store. But in the air it's a different
story. The situation is very simple—if you can't see it, you
can't fly it.
To successfully fly an RC aircraft, the pilot must have
good orientation and distance perception. The eyes
estimate aircraft orientation based on the perceived
position of the model's outer edges, and the relationship
of these outer edges to the edges of any discernible trim
markings on the airplane's wings or fuselage. Distance
perception, in turn, depends on a combination of one's
perception of the aircraft's outside edges and its
estimated orientation.
 |