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Opinions: Rudi's RV-7 Paint Scheme?

RudiGreyling

RudiGreyling

Well Known Member
Hi Guys,

I haven't been around here much, been busy with lots of odds and ends.

Well I need to start painting some parts, that means I need to finalize my paint scheme in the next day or two. (Yeah I know about painting before flying debate, and it is still a long time before I am ready to fly)

Red and White is my thing, and I have used a lot of influences, hopefully not another like it exist:eek:

I wanted to make it simple, but yet striking, some simple curves instead of straight lines. I also wanted to ensure I can paint individual parts of the plane as much of possible.

Like the panel and the interior I think the exterior is close to an builder's hart.
We get very little to be creative on our little planes, so these are the only portions to play with.

It will be done in Supergloss White and Red with a Silver Trim line.
The registration markings will be in Black and With silver trim along the rear side fuse, over the thick portion of the red pointy line.

Anycase, what do you think? Any improvements you can suggest?

Thank you in advance,
Kind Regards
Rudi

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More silver

Hi Rudy.......very nice overall but I think you also need a silver trim line on the fuselage, between the two red sections.

Secondly, move the red paint closer to the rear of the canopy (the area on top of the fuse), with more white. With the red half way back, it kinda "cuts" the fuselage in half.

Regards,
 
Too many curves and swooshes. Needs a more masculine look. Straight lines give a nice long sexy look like the sports car that it is. Swooshes are too girly for me.
 
Nice !

I like it! I also think another small silver stripe would look good on the red, down the fuselage, but other than that? VERY sweet looking!
 
Really nice looking Rudi - nice flow!

My only comment is that from some angles, the nose looks a little "too white" - all the red suddenly stops as you move forward, then there is the red spinner. Almost seems like there needs to be just a little something on the forward/lower cowl, but I have no idea what it would be....maybe a little wheel pant trim would take care of it....but then again, it might be perfect the way it is - it might be a classic!

Paul
 
Rudi's paint scheme

Yukon said:
Looks great Rudi. Best one I've seen in a long time.
Click to expand...

I like it a lot Rudi. There are many RVs that are painted with a design that looks great, but too similar to lots of other RVs. I like to be able to pick out someones plane at a glance (hey, Rosie is here) and your paint scheme both looks great and unique!

The drawings with a red spinner look really appropriate, but I've never seen a real RV with a contrasting spinner that looked good in my opinion. It's easy enough to change if you find you don't like the finished look though. I also like a stripe on the top of the horizontal, exactly like Ron Lee's plane on the front page of today's VAF. It doesn't quite match the rest of your curving paint theme but you might try it in your paint program and see how you like it. I think an RV tail looks better with something on it.

DaveB
 
Add black pinstripe to the gray line. Will make it more striking.

Where the "swoosh" comes underneath the plane change the cure so that it does NOT include the flaps ... will be a lot easier to paint as you do not have to worry about matching the flaps and the curve necessary for when the flaps are down.

As mentioned elsewhere add some gray (and small black highlight) to the side, Makes a more striking appearance.

Our RV6 is red/white with black/medium gray/light gray trim had a dramatic change for the better when the trim was added.

James
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the great feedback so far...

A lot of people are talking about breaking the back of the fuse with a pin stripe or something, but like I said the Registration markings will be Black and Silver to blend with the rest of the plane. I took my current registration of my ultralight 'ZU-AHT', since I don't have one yet for the RV and added it to the tail. I think it does the trick.

Then also the wheelpants...I don't want a design on them since apparently they take the worst of beatings, being single colour it would be easy to fix up. I took the advice that the front section looks a bit white, so I changed the wheel pants to be red.

Now I think it is almost Ready....What you guys think???
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jclark said:
<SNIP>

Where the "swoosh" comes underneath the plane change the cure so that it does NOT include the flaps ... will be a lot easier to paint as you do not have to worry about matching the flaps and the curve necessary for when the flaps are down.
<SNIP>

James
Click to expand...

James, I did not think about the curve with the flaps up and down, that is a very good idea! Too difficult to change on the drawing now, but I definitely will move the curve a bit not to run over the flaps.

Thanks
Rudi
 
Rudi,
How about the Anti-bird strike Spinner paint: 1/3 White, 2/3 Red?
I think your paint scheme is excellent.
H
 
dark color

A lot of people put the dark color on the belly of the plane so they don't have to wash it as much. It tends to accumulate oil drippings.
 
Rudi, I like it mostly because it looks a LOT like the one I have on my wall!

Mine is different enough, but there are some similarities.

Looks great!

:) CJ
 
Looks Great

If you can find someone who has Microsoft Flight software, you can load the design and view the plane at any angle, from any distance. My colors are very similar to yours, Dodge Viper Red over White with Grey.

I originally had red wheel pants and a red spinner. After viewing it in Flight, those went back to the base white as they threw off the balance and made mine look a bit Ronald McDonald'ish.

Regardless, complex designs like this are hard to get balanced and the renderings do not have the same dimmensional appearance as it will on the actual airplane. Make sure you have someone with a very good eye do the taping and your design will shine as it is very nicely thought out. I had a much simpler design and my very experience painter took two days to get the taping done correcty to balance things. It was very frustrating, but turned out great.

I will post picks of my 6 when I get home.
 
Colors and temps...

mikegraycmg said:
A lot of people put the dark color on the belly of the plane so they don't have to wash it as much. It tends to accumulate oil drippings.
Click to expand...

Also a dark lower, and white upper portion of the fuselage, will keep it a little cooler if you live in a hot part of the country...:)

gil A - in the SW desert...
 
Colors and pic

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There where two parts of concern on this design that may affect yours. One is keeping horizontal lines away from seams, like where the cowling halves join. The other was the tricky transition of the red on the tail. The 8's look great terminating the line on the back of the plain. The 6 did not due to its smaller tail and shorter fuselage, so transitioning the red onto the empenage fairing was necessary. Very tricky line to mask.
These "little" things are tough to account for unless you have an experienced painter. We have all seen the really nicely painted RV that, for some reason we could not put our finger on, did not look quite right.
I offer this to you as your design is complex and will need an artist or someone with a good eye to execute well.
I think it will be really nice if done well.
(just a personal opinion, lose the red pants and nose. It might work on your design but looked silly on mine)
 
Paint line transitions

JonJay said:
There where two parts of concern on this design that may affect yours. One is keeping horizontal lines away from seams, like where the cowling halves join. The other was the tricky transition of the red on the tail. The 8's look great terminating the line on the back of the plain. The 6 did not due to its smaller tail and shorter fuselage, so transitioning the red onto the empennage fairing was necessary. Very tricky line to mask.
These "little" things are tough to account for unless you have an experienced painter. We have all seen the really nicely painted RV that, for some reason we could not put our finger on, did not look quite right.
......
Click to expand...

The shop that painted my Tiger told me how they get this fuselage/vertical tail paint line transition right.

They stand at the trailing edge of the wing, and make the paint line "flow" look "smooth" from that position....
I guess the theory is that most folks will look at the whole fuselage paint scheme from that location,
so that is the spot to line up the stripes from.... makes sense to me...:)

...and it worked on my Tiger...:)

gil A
 
JonJay said:
There where two parts of concern on this design that may affect yours. One is keeping horizontal lines away from seams, like where the cowling halves join. The other was the tricky transition of the red on the tail. The 8's look great terminating the line on the back of the plain. The 6 did not due to its smaller tail and shorter fuselage, so transitioning the red onto the empenage fairing was necessary. Very tricky line to mask.
These "little" things are tough to account for unless you have an experienced painter. We have all seen the really nicely painted RV that, for some reason we could not put our finger on, did not look quite right.
I offer this to you as your design is complex and will need an artist or someone with a good eye to execute well.
I think it will be really nice if done well.
(just a personal opinion, lose the red pants and nose. It might work on your design but looked silly on mine)
Click to expand...

Hi Jonjay,

Thanks for the advice...

I know you think it is complex but in fact it is not...it is simple curves...saus the person that never painted an airplane before... :)

There is no transition to the tail. Basically the whole empennage fairing is one color, red. The red on the fuse stops just in front of the fairing. The tail and rudder is also one color. RED. So there is not blend onto the tail. The front and inboard sides of the horisontal is red, no bleed over into the elevator which is all white.

There is also transition from the fuse to the wings which also makes it easier.

On the Spinner I saw an alternating 25% Red 25% White one I liked, unfortunately I can show it using this program.

Thanks again.
Kind Regards
Rudi
 
so there won't be that vertical grey line on the tail? that's grabbing my eye.

I really like it. It just saw a stunt RC plane that is similar and the oval reminds me of a Cigarette boat I see over by Aircraft Spruce.

Can I see it with all white on the pants, white spinner and the n numbers on a all red tail? :)
 
mark manda said:
so there won't be that vertical grey line on the tail? that's grabbing my eye.

I really like it. It just saw a stunt RC plane that is similar and the oval reminds me of a Cigarette boat I see over by Aircraft Spruce.

Can I see it with all white on the pants, white spinner and the n numbers on a all red tail? :)
Click to expand...

No vertical grey line on tail, it is just there to show the hinge line between rudder and vertical on the graphics,

I'll see what I can do on your request about white spinner white pants and N number on tail...I'll PM you your picture next week ;-)

Rudi
 
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Just go for it!

It is as good as any I have seen, but the real question is?

How does Rudi like it.:rolleyes:

My only other advice is get the good plastic masking tape for the lines it makes a real difference when it comes to clean edges on the stripes and other transition areas.

Send in the Pic's when its done.:cool:
 
GAHco said:
My only other advice is get the good plastic masking tape for the lines it makes a real difference when it comes to clean edges on the stripes and other transition areas.:
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Most definitely on the tape. I used blue 3M (from an auto paint store), which is like vinyl electrical tape. It comes in various widths. For pin stripes, there is a solid tape, that doesn't stretch like the blue. Keep's it's full width, even when pulled tight.

Green 3M works for most straight line masking areas, but don't use the cheaper blue (masking)3M, that's for home painting & sold at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It tears easier, and tends to come off the aluminum much too easy, which allows paint to bleed under the surface.

L.Adamson
 
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Hey, Rudi. I downloaded the program to and was wondering how you managed to get the pics onto the site. I tried saving screen shots of the plane I wanted, into my pics and then posting them but couldn't get it to work. How did you do it?
 
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