Register Red of course!
Everybody knows that painting something red makes it go faster ... especially if you add some stripes down the side!
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 …
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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?
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!
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.
...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.
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In respect to tradition, part of me wants to go with either the El Reg Red or the British Racing Green.
James Micallef, a ways up the thread, suggests that the British Racing Green would be boring, but as an American, I have to say it'd be a damn' sight classier than the standard American Flaming Searing Day-Glo Racing Orange (aka "Daytona Orange").
I'm not really up on my British rocketry, but the Blue Streak suggestion sounds good... and as an old spaceflight history geek and "B" sci-fi movie fan, the suggestion of silver also has a lot of merit -- and visibility. In the same vein, something similar to the various color schemes used for the captured V2 tests at White Sands, such as this one and this one, might also work well.
Still, for easy visibility, I don't think you could do much better than no. 3, the bright yellow with black longitudinal stripes, perhaps with the round El Reg Vulture "badge" logo on the tail and wings.
Or powder blue if you prefer. I race off road (hobbyist) and this color has proven to be the most eye-catching on video against an earth background. Might be tough as it is coming down, but I was counting on the cliche gray English sky until I saw a comment about Spain. Should still stand out against an azure sky though.
It's got to be the red and white colour scheme, though I would also add a stripe of blue here and there to make it truly British.
BTW I think it would be best to paint it to remove the grooves as these could attract condensation on the way up which will turn into ice and add weight and possibly even fouling the control surfaces. Dimples work OK at high speeds when there is sufficient friction to prevent icing or in 'dry and warm' conditions but the space plane will be essentially slow moving until ignition, which gives it plenty of time to ice up.
http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/attachments/aircraft-design-aerodynamics-new-technology/9764d1293052852-corsair-spitfire-hybrid-paint-job-top.jpg
http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/attachments/aircraft-design-aerodynamics-new-technology/9765d1293052858-corsair-spitfire-hybrid-paint-job-side.jpg
They do have to find the plane. Otherwise you might use paint patterns like:
Tornado:
http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/492/pics/9_67.jpg
The plane reminds me more of something that is like an SR71 or even the plane from Firefox;
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=W1lwABsiCdY4rM&tbnid=S8qCAlL_4MV68M:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Frob.com%2Fpix%2FRC%2Fcrazy_rc%2Ffirefox&ei=0P1OUrSVKO-34AOaiYHIBg&psig=AFQjCNHqlyNw13u9HWbMFWfkyfqRDrjytw&ust=1380994896700477
RAF Prototype Yellow (see, for example, http://www.flickr.com/photos/51828484@N07/8269588747) on the bottom and High Visibility Register Red on the top. Include RAF 'P in a circle' prototype markings on the sides, and Register vulture roundels on the wings. And a small icon of Ms Lohan on the nose.
Having a different scheme top and bottom is well worth it.
I fly RC planes and there are times when you can't tell which way it is.
That's why some planes have different patterns top and bottom.
I would go with Vulture 1 Colours as a base with maybe invasion stripes (black & white as on 1944 - 5 Spitfires) on the bottom of the wings to help the pilot.
Silver Nose and wings with red control surfaces and fuselage.
During initial flight testing a layer of sticky tape to protect the aircraft skin from damage on landing.
When in the air planes never have a problem. it's how they hit the ground that causes the damage ;-)