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Paint Schemes

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AviatorJ

Well Known Member
While on conference calls I've been multitasking lately by doodling on some printed RV-10 3-view drawing sheets. I plan to advance this activity to include some coloring in the future.

This got me thinking about actual schemes, when I had my 172 painted the painter suggested 'mostly white' to give it a clean look, allow the N numbers to show and picked a darker blue on the bottom to hide more of the filth that collects on the belly. I also read something about white being preferred on top to deflect heat... but on the same thread people start referencing military planes which are typically dark or even black.

So any science to keeping the top a light color and darker on the bottom or does it really matter? What are some other things to consider in picking paint schemes/colors.
 
Military aircraft are many times painted dark to reduce their visibility.

We don't want that. We want to be seen.
White is cooler and easily seen.

Also, even though we don't want to think about some things, a dark color really blends in with terrain at an accident site. White stands out.
 
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What Mel said.

I was cautioned by one person that white on top could reflect sunlight into your eyes so I plan to go with a light gray color and vinyl graphics (stripes, etc.) to add personality.
 
AviatorJ said:
While on conference calls I've been multitasking lately by doodling on some printed RV-10 3-view drawing sheets. I plan to advance this activity to include some coloring in the future.

This got me thinking about actual schemes, when I had my 172 painted the painter suggested 'mostly white' to give it a clean look, allow the N numbers to show and picked a darker blue on the bottom to hide more of the filth that collects on the belly. I also read something about white being preferred on top to deflect heat... but on the same thread people start referencing military planes which are typically dark or even black.

So any science to keeping the top a light color and darker on the bottom or does it really matter? What are some other things to consider in picking paint schemes/colors.
Click to expand...

Justin,
No science to offer...just a pass-along about an experience Doug had recently when he had to fix a leak in one of his tanks. He said that painting the underside of Flash dark blue helped hide the fuel leak for quite a while (blue fuel stain on blue paint = nearly invisible), and that maybe blue wasn't the best idea for an underside paint color.

Something to think about when you make your final color decisions.

Regards,
 
I've got a mixture of white and black. The white hides the dust/dirt much better than the black. My white work truck gets washed once a year (maybe) and always looks cleaner than the dark vehicles owned by the younger crowd who like to wash them more often.

I don't have a problem with reflection. I didn't even put a bit of black on the top of the cowl as its just not needed. You're wearing sunglasses on sunny days anyway.

Bevan
 
I'll second the recommendation on the EAA paint scheme webinar. The host is Craig Bartlett of Scheme Designers. Of all the EAA webinars I've attended, this one EASILY takes top spot in terms of value. Craig's presentation conveys some of the most basic, yet most vital information about paint schemes, and is chockablock with examples of schemes done well, contrasted with schemes which are similar but are done incorrectly and thus look, well, just plain bad.
 
Just finished the EAA Webinar. Hit all my concerns and I have some ideas I want to crayon out on some paper.
 
Here's what I came up with- Trying to use the colors of the Phenom 100... looks black but it's a dark blue.

IMG_1667.JPG
 
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