Register Red of course!
Everybody knows that painting something red makes it go faster ... especially if you add some stripes down the side!
The Vulture 2: What paintjob should we put on our soaraway spaceplane?
Our Vulture 2 spaceplane has risen majestically from the powdered nylon, but there's one matter yet to be resolved before we get it in the air: what colour scheme best suits this magnificent aircraft? Here's our vehicle fully assembled, with Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator team members (from L-R) Dave Akerman, Rob Eastwood …
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Friday 4th October 2013 10:38 GMT James Micallef
Re: Register Red of course!
British Racing Green, forgive me for saying, is dull, dull, dull. Looks nice on a Jaguar in that understated British way, but this is a Goddamn Rocket Spaceplane. Energy! Excitement! Passion! El Reg red is the natural colour for me, plus the red-with-white-tips mockup also looks great.
SPB orange and silver is also a good one.
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Friday 4th October 2013 11:24 GMT Anonymous Custard
Re: Register Red of course!
Luminous yellow and green stripes, so you can easily find the thing again when it lands (to cover all attractants like trees, rocks, pylons etc - at least one colour should stand out). Plus you can send the minion for a tin of striped paint and enjoy the attempt).
Or failing that just a nice silver with flaming red decals to make it look like a real re-entry?
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Friday 4th October 2013 14:37 GMT Isn't it obvious?
Re: Register Red of course!
The BRG one is the only scheme shown that doesn't look like something cheap and Chinese-made that you'd find in a clear plastic clamshell on a rack in a crappy toy store.
Except for the orange-and-blue one. That one looks like it should have "Rabobank" written across it.
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Monday 7th October 2013 09:43 GMT t.est
Re: Register Red of course!
If you want it to be clearly seen you need to use distinctive colours with great contrast.
Using a color that is blended from red, green and blue (actually CMYK, but all you see is anyway RGB) will make it harder to see. Orange and Gray is such a combination, where the contrasts is suffering. It's possible to make gray and orange look very good, but then you use a light orange and dark gray or vice versa to maintain a good contrast.
If using a blended colour the contrasting colors is pretty much limited to White and Black. Red and Green is a bad combination due to possible colourblindness, (all humans are in less or greater extent).
Yellow and black works very well, also among animals and insects. If you want a more estetik colour white and red works well too.
I would use though yellow and black. Two black stripes and three Yellow, from front to rear making the fuselage yellow. Then add a black nose cone.
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Friday 4th October 2013 11:08 GMT Dr Insanity
Re: Register Red of course!
Evrywun knows red wuns go faster! Wurr hurr hurr
"Wot's faster than a warbuggy, more killy than a warbike, and flies through da air like a bird? I got no bleedin' idea, but I'm gonna find out." - Kog da Flymek, pioneer of da Dethkopta and honorary Mekboy of da Reg Speshul Projeks Bureau
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Friday 4th October 2013 10:30 GMT Pen-y-gors
Emotionally...
it should be British Racing Green, all over. But on a practical level it needs to stand out against the sky and the ground (and the trees) so one of the naff dayglo combinations sadly makes sense - but give the heroic playmonaut some cool peril-sensitive shades so he doesn't have to look at it.
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Friday 11th October 2013 12:48 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: A big magenta cock would look great soaring through the skies.
That was my first thought (obviously) but the shape is somewhat reminiscent of an open invitation from a lady, albeit one with her arms folded alluringly coyly and her head tipped right back (or removed entirely which is obviously less wonderful).
So I imagine pink circles and a black (/yellow /orange) triangle will feature in at least some of the suggested designs.
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Friday 4th October 2013 10:52 GMT PC Paul
Not British Racing Green
Not green, you'll never find it after it lands, even in Spain.
Nothing very complicated either - I've had a nice realistic Zebra scheme on a much bigger glider than this and it totally disappeared into the background, both in the sky and on the floor.
Dayglo orange (or Register Red at a pinch) with black tips would do nicely for me.
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Friday 4th October 2013 14:11 GMT Bunbury
Re: Break out the tartan paint!
I'm told tartan is "in" this season. "In" as in "we want to sell more clothes so let's change the fashion". Also, so is pink. And cobalt blue.
So you could make LOHAN a fashion victim in a pink and cobalt blue tartan. Functional in that you'll be able to spot it easily
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Friday 4th October 2013 12:27 GMT graeme leggett
I second bright silver as being in the best traditions of 1950s and 1960s British experimental aircraft.
With bright yellow on leading edges etc as was also used at the time.
Think RAF Museum Cosford research aircraft collection.
The Hunting H126 had a rather fetching all over yellow http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/hunting-h126/
You ought to duplicate the in front of the windshield black panel if you've got time
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Friday 4th October 2013 11:02 GMT Martin Gregorie
Maximise visibility
Use your yellow-black scheme, but replace the yellow with dayglo orange - the Halfords red-orange hazard warning paint's colour would be perfect. Reversing the colours should also be fine.
Reasoning: I've used that red-orange / black scheme on the underside of free flight model aircraft, a situation where visibility is very important if you want the timekeeper to see and time the whole flight and you want to be able to find the model easily after each flight: in UK weather flights of 2-3 miles are common. This scheme shows up very well against the sky and, because that red-orange dayglo is very bright and not found in nature, it also shows up well on the ground. The black stripes also help on the ground: straight parallel lines are not common in nature, so they really stand out.
Go easy with the paint, though: its heavy and will really impact Vulture 2's performance, so if possible use fine grit sandpaper to smooth the V2's surface before painting. V2 will weigh a tonne if you try to use paint to fill that rough surface. Also note that dayglo paints tend to give a matt surface, so while gloss black lacquer should be fine, you may want to use a light coat of clear lacquer over the dayglo.
Can you get any gash parts to experiment on before ripping into Vulture 2 with the sandpaper?
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Friday 4th October 2013 11:17 GMT PC Paul
Re: Maximise visibility
Go easy with the paint, though: its heavy and will really impact Vulture 2's performance
Seconded. Paint is heavy. And a light sanding would probably be a good idea, although given that it's printed in nylonish stuff I'm not sure how well it would work?.
For good solid colours and added strength, rc combat gliders use coloured parcel tape - it doesn't weigh much (especially if it's only a partial covering, e.g a red checkerboard) and as a bonus could be removed and redone differently for the next flight - reusable near-space vehicles wahey!
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Saturday 5th October 2013 14:41 GMT Martin Gregorie
Re: Maximise visibility
Additional thought: you could try using a filler to get a smooth surface. Some of the squeeze-tube spackles are fairly light once they've dried, are very easy to sand and result in a nice painted surface.
Try it on a V2 test piece first, of course. and check the weight that using it adds.
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Friday 4th October 2013 11:12 GMT SW10
I'm sorry, but...
...you can't hope to create a tradition of over-achieving tomfoolery if you break with the past the moment you get a new toy.
Not only would you be disrespecting a drowned Playmonaut hero and throwing all memories of Vulture 1 into the wastebin of unforgiving history, you'll also be breaking a key visual reference to the tough-as-nails DNA that joins these two craft together.
Sort your act out. Give it the SPB colours proudly worn by its predecessor.
That will be all.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
