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Exterior paint colors - white or other?

JackinMichigan

Well Known Member
We're less than a month away from our first flight, and my father and I have been at odds about what color to paint it for 3 years. He wants to paint it white (yawn!), whereas I want a more unique color scheme. I originally thought of painting it OD green with a shark's mouth, but then I saw an awesome looking gloss black with leading edge flames.

My question is this - why are so many planes painted boring old white? What's the issue of using any other color? The only issue I can think of is heat reflection, so I want to ask the community if that's a genuinely legitimate concern or if it's just stubborn tradition.
 
Might not help, but our idea is to paint white and then use vinyl graphics. If you get tired of the design you can change it cheaply compared to having to re-paint.

That's our thoughts right now anyway.
Lynn
 
White is cooler temperature wise. Also some of the more colorful/creative paint jobs look dated in five years.
I like Lynn's idea of paint white and add graphics
 
White is easy to repair, less expensive, doesn't attract heat. Scheme designers helped me with my paint scheme. I think around $2500 or so. I believe it was worth it and will use them again. We decided on a metallic gray on the bottom fuselage and top of the wheel pants. Makes the plane look like it sets lower, and more sporty. Also it is hard to recognize the oil streak on the belly from the oil breather tube. I painted after I flew off the 40 hours to make sure no loose rivets. Another advantage in my mind was any hanger rash in those formative hours, which can occur, is easier to repair before painting.
 
Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using a company to help come up with a design, especially a unique, complex one. But the truth is any good paint shop can work with you to come up and execute a design without using a middle-man and incurring the associated cost. To this end, the internet is your friend. I looked at hundreds of designs both in-person at OSH and online (just Google Van's RV), hand drew what I wanted on a blank copy of the RV-10 3-view profile and gave that to my painter who easily turned it into reality (of course my scheme is a simple design).
 
White is heat resistant, less expensive, easily matched, etc.

Another factor that no one has mentioned is visibility. While yellow is the most visible color in the air, white is very visible.

Least visible colors are greys and beige and darker colors like red or black.

Personal opinion: No flames on cars or aircraft!
 
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Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using a company to help come up with a design, especially a unique, complex one. But the truth is any good paint shop can work with you to come up and execute a design without using a middle-man and incurring the associated cost. To this end, the internet is your friend. I looked at hundreds of designs both in-person at OSH and online (just Google Van's RV), hand drew what I wanted on a blank copy of the RV-10 3-view profile and gave that to my painter who easily turned it into reality (of course my scheme is a simple design).

Yes, but realize that many designs are copyrighted and their owners don't want them duplicated so that their aircraft has a truly original paint job.

I know of a situation that got very emotional (not mine) and litigation threatened in which somebody copied a design without asking permission.

I've had two people ask me for permission to copy some aspect of my design of which I granted to both of them.

I used Scheme as well and paid well under $1k. The value to me was the 3-4 months that the designer worked with my wife and her infinite design changes. The value was that they had to deal with those changes, while I kept busy building.
 
Yes, but realize that many designs are copyrighted and their owners don't want them duplicated so that their aircraft has a truly original paint job.

I know of a situation that got very emotional (not mine) and litigation threatened in which somebody copied a design without asking permission.

I've had two people ask me for permission to copy some aspect of my design of which I granted to both of them.

I used Scheme as well and paid well under $1k. The value to me was the 3-4 months that the designer worked with my wife and her infinite design changes. The value was that they had to deal with those changes, while I kept busy building.

As I said, nothing wrong with it, but wanted to point out you can get good results for free. As to the copyright, that's true IF you copy the design in its entirety--close to but not exact does not necessarily a copyright infringement make. In my own case my original design choice was a copy of a copyrighted design (albeit with slightly different colors). I did my due diligence and pursued permission to use it which would have cost me just north of $900. I said no thanks and opted to make some changes and alter the design to avoid any possible issue. However, many design elements are public domain regardless of whether you think they are copyrighted because they happen to be included in your design--swooches on the VS, rudder, and wing tips for example. Or stripes down the fuse or on the wheel pants.
 
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Not White

It's not very often I disagree with Mel, in fact this is the first time..

While he is right that yellow is the most visible colour hence my yellow 4, white is not easily seen!

The sky is mostly eith blue or white. White against a white background is really difficult to see. I find it very difficult to spot white traffic against a whit cloudy background.

I painted a tailwind with green wings...... Guess what.... I followed that aircraft on finals to a grass stip, it almost disappeared against the green of the grass from above. The black fuselage helped me pick it back up.

Blues are not on my hit list for the same reason,medusa pear against the sky.

I believe very much is seeing and being seen, I would suggest you keep this in mind when picking colours.
 
Yes, but realize that many designs are copyrighted and their owners don't want them duplicated so that their aircraft has a truly original paint job.

I know of a situation that got very emotional (not mine) and litigation threatened in which somebody copied a design without asking permission.

I've had two people ask me for permission to copy some aspect of my design of which I granted to both of them.

I used Scheme as well and paid well under $1k. The value to me was the 3-4 months that the designer worked with my wife and her infinite design changes. The value was that they had to deal with those changes, while I kept busy building.

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet, Bob - but I already admire the way you tuck meaning between-the-lines :D A toast to your long-term survival and continued health, my good man.
 
Getting opinions on paint is like getting an opinion on what you might like to eat.
We can all tell you what we like and add reasons such as white is heat reflective and darker color more heat absorbent.
Complex schemes cost more money in paint and labor but clever design ideas can highlight or reduce certain features on the plane. A wheel pant painted in 2 colors, one bright and the other a less visible color can give the appearance of sleeker looking fairings and the same is true for the fuselage.
Painting abrupt and contrasting stripes across the fuselage will make your plane much more visible but not very sexy, just look at a coast guard airplane.
If you want to be invisible paint it gray and add some good strobes.
Just play around with colored pencils and you'll see very quickly how lines and partitions can change the look of your design.
Both you and your father should draw up a few designs, not put your name on it and agree to have a family member "judge" pick the final version.
As to copyright issues, unless a design is actually copyrighted, (very costly)
there is not a thing anybody can do if you copy their design, especially not if the design is for personal use. I know, they can get mad.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" so copy away and frankly, looking at paint schemes for inspiration and making a few changes is almost as good as
coming up with you very own.
 
A point which some may not have thought of concerning heat -

In the UK, there was a mandatory mod forbidding dark colours for the cockpit top. The reason was that the structure could be weakened due to overheating thus compromising the seat belt mounts.

My opinion is white with simple graphics. Looks classy but may be a bit "quiet" for American tastes ;) :D
 
Colors

Agree with Mel on this one. United Airlines previous paint colors, the gray and blues hardest to see on lots of days (even with strobes)compared to the other guys. Another color consideration might be how hard would your plane be to spot if you forced landed out in the sticks. Mine is going to be mostly white.

Don Broussard
RV9 Rebuild in Progress
57 Pacer
 
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Paint

is very personal, and a lot of people enjoy being inventive. That said, I agree with Mel... Yellow is the most visible color, so that is what I am going with. I am willing to accept that it will not be as cool and that It will show the effects of the sun sooner than white. But it will be seen.
 
is very personal, and a lot of people enjoy being inventive. That said, I agree with Mel... Yellow is the most visible color, so that is what I am going with. I am willing to accept that it will not be as cool and that It will show the effects of the sun sooner than white. But it will be seen.

Actually yellow is a good color all around. Temperature is not all that bad. When I was building a compost airplane (DragonFly MK II) I didn't want to paint it white so I did research and yellow was actually pretty close to white. Other color's temperature coefficient when up pretty fast after yellow.
My Bi-Plane will be yellow. (If I ever finish it!)
The biggest problem I found with yellow is that it is VERY hard to match for repair work.
 
I cannot remember the source of this information, but it stated that if you're going for a high visibility scheme, the ideal scheme has dark leading edges and belly so the airplane is visible when silhouetted against the sky, and a white or yellow top for when the airplane is silhouetted against the ground.

Contrast against the background is your friend.
 
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I cannot remember the source of this information, but it stated that if you're going for a high visibility scheme, the ideal scheme in has dark leading edges and belly so the airplane is visible when silhouetted against the sky, and a white or yellow top for when the airplane is silhouetted against the ground.

I like that idea! A red tail is also useful for identification when the breakfast skies are busy. :)

399SB-11.jpg


(paint scheme modeled after one of the very early RV-6's and copied several times since mine was painted, no copyrights were harmed)
 
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