...sporty stripes This morning I hauled out the Stinger for its second flight without wing decals, and its first with a new striping pattern on the wings, the graphics consisting of two simple stripes using electrical tape. The morning was, unfortunately, rather grey, so visibility wasn't all that clear to start off with, so it was perhaps unsurprising that the stripes didn't show up to any significant degree as the Stinger howled over the paddocks.
This was a minor disappointment, however, although the cleaner wings are still a substantial improvement over the original. I have subsequently added to the striping, with an adjacent black stripe, and have give the Stinger another run. This setup looks pretty good, with better visibility, although I still find I need to be much more careful with the Stinger...
...hopefully better visibility The biggest issue I have with the Stinger, apart from the super-sensitive aileron setup I had on the first flights, is visibility; the Freewing version has classic sport-jet stripes on the white wing whilst Hobbyking, for their Mk2 version, unfortunately decided on a bespoke black-and-lumo full-body decal. While including a scorpion graphic was kinda groovy, the overall effect is a 21st century take on camouflage. Unsurprisingly, although you could easily see the Stinger in the air, I've found picking the orientation, particularly wing angle change, to be very difficult. Even the tiny Rarebear is much easier to see. And, given that the Stinger is always a little touchy to fly, in combination with the camo decals, it's virtually heart-stopping.
Consequently I've embarked on a degraphic exercise; first of all I removed the decals off the tail-fin, working on the premise that this is the most visible feature on the Radjet. Unfortunately with the Stinger this was unsuccessful, so I've just finished clearing the second wing, making it look rather naked. While this may not be optimum, I haven't the enthusiasm to stripe it and I'll try it out first to see how it goes; and judging by how easy it is to see change on angle on the Rarebear tiny white wings, I think it will be a big improvement. Then, at some stage in the future, if I come across a suitable set of stripes, I'll pimp up the Stinger so that it looks a little less bland...
