greenpilot

Having great difficulty with orientation of my stick. The yellow transparent wing covering is confusing against dark gray cloud cover (there's a lot of that now in FL.). Any ideas (pix?) on how to add some trim tape or Ultrakote to make it easier to see?

Tall Paul

I had that same problem when I test-flew one a couple years ago.
Put some large white stripes/patches on the wing bottom.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Are you wearing sunglasses? Some of them will accent the colors and you can see the plane better.

Jerry

Flypaper 2

You need a darker colour for contrast. Put a dark blue or green band about six ins wide all the way around the lightest wing panel, out near the end. Seldom do two wing panels weigh exactly the same.

Mike Ledbetter

Hangar 9 sells Ultracoat in 4" black and white checkerboard.

Since I covered the bottom of my Ultrastick60 wing with it, I've had no problems. It is plain white underneath so the plane looks no different from the top.

greenpilot

Thanks for all the suggestions. The 4" checkerboard, did you put that on the entire wing bottom? Think I may go that route. If I just put a stripe from leading to trailing edge, I would still see the wing top through the bottom.

Tall Paul

You might be surprised how poor checkerboard is. It turns to grey mush at any distance.
Here's the Ugly Stik I mentioned previously with a large (chord width and span) white patch on the bottom (cgi),
and my TopCap with the same thing,
and my SticiitV with blue on yellow..
These are instantly recognizable as to orientation..

greenpilot

Tall Paul, seeing is believing. I thought the white stripes would be too visible through the transparent top and still cause confusion, but it looks good. They do create contrast against the yellow. Thanks for the pix.

Time Pilot

I don't know if this is other people's experience, but here's my opinion. My SS has a red top and a white bottom. I often fly near dusk, and because of the light, both the top and bottom look dark. No light reflecting off a light bottom. Dark top hanging on to what light the sky is offering.

I've thought that a dark bottom and a light top would work better. The bottom is already dark and a lighter top (or detailing) would reflect the skys light.

Of course, it I can get the plane in a good bank, I can make out the color, but on shallow banks, it is often hard to tell.

Mike Ledbetter

I did the whole wing. See attached. It worked well for me and is attractive in the air, I think.

greenpilot

That looks good too. And eliminates seeing though the bottom altogether. Guess it's time to make a decision.

CCRC1

My Feedback: (13)

I didn't like the transparent yellow either. This was my way of fixing the problem. The underside of the wing is corsair blue. I can see this one in the next county!

Mike Ledbetter

I flew it today, so here's two more. No visibility problems.

MAPPER

I too had this problem until I learned what works for me. I get the adhesive backed day glow orange sheets. This
works great and you would not believe how well this shows up. I just do one stripe on the bottom of the wing about 3
in. wide. This is enough so I can tell oreintation. If the bottom of the wing is light colored like white I apply to dark
color (like dark blue) stripes and put the day glow stripe between them and there it is. Shows up great and looks pretty cool

Map

greenpilot

Spent several hours applying red & white checkerboard to the bottom of the wing (not my specialty). Took the plane out yesterday, you know what's coming, it CRASHED! Never even got to see how it looked up there. My son was on a buddy box (he doesn't really need one, but hasn't flown in awhile so wanted to be safe). I think he got too far from the main radio and the buddy cord pulled out a bit. Another lesson learned. Why do these things always happen after you spend the time & money on improvements[&o]

PlanePlanter

My Feedback: (9)

Hate to see that! Sorry!
Actualy after a 2nd look, It doesn't look all that hateful to repair.

pthomas1956

getting ready to start puting together an ultrastick 60 and planned on using a o.s. 91. is that a good idea? second question i`ve read about moving the tail servo`s to the rear of the plane, i know with all of the experience in here you guy`s could give a new guy step buy step instructions on how to do this, any advice would be greatly apprieciated, thanks everyone.

krossk

My Feedback: (27)

Look a little closer - those white patches on the US were added with a photo editor.
(Otherwise you should see them in the top view as well)

That's not to say there isn't any merit to the concept though. I use alternating wide stripes (white & neon orange) on the bottoms of my planes and have very little problem with orientation.