Painting the bottom of the P3 Red

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

My flying buddy is thinking of painting the bottom of his P3 Red to make it easier to find in the sky.
That white body disappears on days with clouds or bright overcast.
Has anyone here done this?
What did you use?
How did you mask off the parts we don't want painted? (I'm thinking 2-3" wide blue painters tape)
Is there another color that would make more sense?
- Seems to me a bright red would show up in most sky conditions.

Thoughts? Comments??

flax · Jul 22, 2015

jephoto said:
Is there another color that would make more sense?

Bright orange maybe

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

Not bad. May actually show better. That kind of Florescent Orange.

flax · Jul 22, 2015

jephoto said:
Not bad. May actually show better. That kind of Florescent Orange.

Yes, that's the one i was thinking of

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

The other question is technique. Spray paint is easiest, but have to protects the camera, Gimbal, motor vents etc
Maybe a brush might be better. Like painting a model airplane.

flax · Jul 22, 2015

jephoto said:
The other question is technique. Spray paint is easiest, but have to protects the camera, Gimbal, motor vents etc
Maybe a brush might be better. Like painting a model airplane.

I haven't much experience with spray painting, but I think before you paint I would rough up the surface with sandpaper first.

GordonT · Jul 22, 2015

Check paint doesn't react with the plastic before starting. Some, paints attack plastic and that would be a disaster

YolevonALLin · Jul 22, 2015

Why not just get some fluorescent orange tap? Not permanent, cant be applied as technical and precise as you want it, and gives you the color you want. Would nice colored tape work? Affect on any signal?

HawkeyeJoe · Jul 22, 2015

Hello all! First time poster, long time lingerer to the forum. P3P owner and proud of it! I have thought of doing something similar, but may I suggest Plasti Dip? You wouldn't need to damage the aircraft with sandpaper and you could peel it off if you wanted to bring it back to stock. I'd just cover all the vents and areas that could get damaged with over spray.

walker16 · Jul 22, 2015

Use krylon fusion spray paint. It is made for plastic and needs no prep. I have a thread showing my phantom that I painted all black.

AmirChar · Jul 22, 2015

I don't know that you will be able to tell red from blue or black at any sort of altitude. A dark color (ideally black) is going to show the most contrast against a bright sky.

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

Some very good ideas here. Have to ponder it. Like the tape idea. Maybe alternate stripes of black & color... Then visible in any sky.

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

Shouldn't affect sign as antennas are in landing gear now right?

jephoto · Jul 22, 2015

Affect signal! That is.

WalkaboutSean · Jul 22, 2015

Another vote for Plastidip (http://amzn.to/1gPdtaA).

I "plastidipped" my first P1 Phantom black and it turned out nice.

The great thing about Plastidip is that it's removable. Should you ever decide to make a change, you can just peel it off.

walker16 · Jul 22, 2015

Only problem with plasti dip is all the small screw holes. You will have to be very careful when putting it back together because when the screws start to snug up they will pull on the plasti dip and it will start to peel off

jephoto · Jul 23, 2015

Are you all saying the case needs to removed before painting?
How difficult is it to release the inner clips holding the case together- I've been told that besides the screws there are clips inside the case all around?
And does this void the warranty?

landmannnn · Jul 23, 2015

The colour isn't going to make much difference, at a couple of hundred feet the surface area is so small that whatever colour it won't be much more visible. Normally if I lose sight of it the reason is looking in the wrong place not the actual visibility.