Sm Tall alk H
appy New Year one and all; 2013 was a terrific year in modeling, and I’m betting that 2014 will be a great year also. And being that winter is full on, most of us are probably do- ing more building or doing repairs from last year’s flying season than we are flying, so it might be a good time to cover something that has been getting a whole lot more prominent in recent months than ever be- fore. And that is, our ability to see the mod- els we fly.
Seeing is believing
I don’t know about you guys, but my eye- sight is definitely not what it used to be. I guess the eyesight is going faster than the memory, because I still vividly remember the day when I could fly pattern with a solid silver 50-inch span Ugly Stick upside-down in an overcast sky at a thousand feet and know exactly what it was doing. Now don’t get me wrong, some colors definitely worked better than others, and multiple colors were always better than a solid color, but at least back then I knew pretty much what the air- plane was doing the better part of the time. Nowadays, when the clouds are up, or the sky is backlit, all I can see is a silhouette, and it’s rarely doing what I think it should be doing. Seems like I spend half my time figuring out the orientation of the airplane, and the other half putting it back to where I thought it was in the first place. The good news though, is that by adding bright, color- ful trim to a model, seeing it becomes much easier.
Being a scale modeler can be a limiting factor, especially with warbirds; after all, they don’t call it camouflage for nothing. However, there are some pretty colorful schemes available for many of the front line fighters and bombers, and the national in- signia can go a long way in providing visual cues. It works pretty much the same way with civilian types as well. The wing num- ber on a Cessna or Piper light plane makes for good visual cues too, in that the number
by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at
patscustommodels@aol.com
PHOTO: GEORGE SMITH
George Smith’s 24-inch span Skiniwag was built from a Steve Adams kit and powered with a PAW .033 diesel engine. It’s a profile version of the Skaliwag(CD220) Steve presented in the April 04 issue of FM.
is large enough to use for specific reference to orientation, and it’s generally displayed in strong contrast so that it will show up from a distance.
But what’ll get you into trouble pretty quickly is a solid colored model with little or no trim, especially a dark colored one. But there is good news: unless you’re building a specific aircraft, the sky is the limit to what can be done with color schemes. And be- sides, I can’t think of anything more fun than conjuring up a nice bright scheme for your latest creation. After all, there’s no law that says your J-3 has to be yellow or your Cessna 172 white.
To get started, sit down with the colored
pencils and a few 3-view drawings of the air- plane you’re designing the color scheme for and lay out some ideas. Use your imagina- tion, and using the colors that experience tells you works best for you; see what you can come up with. And when it comes to contrasting colors,
darker against lighter is by far the most ef- fective. Personally, I love a white airplane with a tasteful black trim scheme, or black with white trim. Yellow with black, dark blue, or red trim works too, but I do try to avoid something like white with yellow or pale blue trim, or red with maroon trim. And in this neck of the woods where the skies are generally bright with a silver hue or the overcast is mottled, silver is the absolute worst. And generally speaking, the darker the overall color, the tougher it is for me to see since it does have a tendency to silhou- ette, unless the contrasting color is quite bright. So give it a try and see what you can come up with. You might be surprised at how well it turns out.
A touch of the unusual
This month has brought along a couple of things less common with a nice variety of models from the readers. First off, Mike Hudlass has checked in with his e-powered
PHOTOS: GEORGE SMITH
All of the radio components are mounted externally on the Skiniwag(above), making both mounting as well as access easy. Built primarily from Dollar Tree foam board, the Axon (at right) is a simple, low cost alternative to down and dirty fun flying. With all of the components mounted externally, the model is easy to build and a terrific flyer to boot.
48 JANUARY 2014
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