There's a very good reason that full scale sailplanes are white. It has to do with the strength of epoxy at elevated temperatures...ie. it goes down rapidly as the temp goes up. The first PIK-20's were made in white, orange, or yellow, due to the thermal set / cure nature of the epoxy used, and even they discontinued colors very quickly. You don't see many black cars in Texas, because people don't like leaving their skin on their paint from incidental contact. Ravens and vultures are primarily carrion birds, and there's not a lot of calories in what they eat, so black and it's heating properties are a natural survival tool for them...yeah, I watch a lot of nature shows...I'm an old gas bag...what else am I going to watch?....8^)....
Jack Womack --- Charles Eaton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Just another thought on color. I was watching some > ravens soar at a > distance and angle we often fly our planes. I was > struck how well they > could be seen both on the top and bottom in the > turn. The gloss black > showed up well at all angles (the black gave good > contrast and the shine > gave some glint). I've been toying with the idea of > painting a TD ship all > gloss black. Any thoughts? > > Oh and another old thread on "direction of turns" > while in a thermal. > Ravens are the only bird I have seen fly in the same > direction while in a > group. Seagulls and other birds seem to do there > own thing. The Ravens > will all go one direction, then some wise guy will > change and they will all > get back into a one way formation after a short > time. I read somewhere that > Ravens are of the smarter bird variety - I guess it > shows in there flying > habbits. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob Rice" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 12:02 PM > Subject: FW: [RCSE] Colour and heat retention > > > > There is a very interesting article concerning the > painting of gliders and > > heat > > at http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/index-e.html look > under the technology > > section > > > > The general rule Don't use dark colors where the > sun can shine on the > > painted surface > > > > Bob Rice > > Rocky Mountain Soaring Assn. > > Denver CO > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Bill Johns [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 12:57 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: [RCSE] Colour and heat retention > > > > > > At 01:56 PM 3/16/2002 -0500, John McCloskey wrote: > > >A LONG while back there was a thread on this > subject . I'm looking to > > >paint the tips of a new sailplane. Only I don't > want to go the usual > > >red/yellow , Blue /yellow . I seem to remember a > post stating that dark > > >green will hold as much heat (or nearly as much ) > as black .Was I > > >hallucinating or is there some truth to what I > "remember " ? > > > > I did some work some time back and some solar > sensors use a very deep > green > > instead of black for measuring incoming solar > radiation. It catches an > > awful lot of solar energy. > > > > >While on the subject, I've noticed that quite a > few TD ships seem to be > > >sporting bare glass fuselages . Does heat affect > them in the long run ? > > >Would I be better off to at least paint the nose > cone white to keep the > UV > > >and temp down around the flight pack and battery > ? > > > > I've never noticed the unpainted fuse getting > particularly hot. > > > > Bill > > > > -- > > It comes in pints! > Peregrin Took > > > > Bill Johns > > Pullman, WA > > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane > News. Send "subscribe" > and > > "unsubscribe" requests to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane > News. Send "subscribe" > and "unsubscribe" requests to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane > News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests > to [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/ RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
