Calypso with new look

[bobbysbrother]

I've lost orientation of more than my share of white foamies in the sky so over a year ago I started trimming my foamies (that's all I currently fly) with bright colored adhesive vinyl. I started out trying to use paint but never found a workable formula or foolproof way to make the paint stick to my satisfaction. Especially over time in the normal course of everyday flying. This Calypso is my latest vinyl endeavor. Everything you see, except for the black canopy, is adhesive vinyl. For visible contrast, the underside trim is a black and iridescent red combination also in vinyl.      

[Bellke]

RE: Calypso with new look

I like that, looks sharp. I like the way you took the basic Calypso color scheme and took it a step further. Did you do anything to the underside? Where were you able to find the adhesive vinyl? I've been thinking of doing something similar but with tape but I think you may have something here.

Unfortunately I won't be losing orientation of my Calypso soon. It's in the trunk of my car in several pieces right now. A couple of weeks ago on my 3rd flight of the day the control arm on the servo came off and I lost elevator control. I had a nice view of nose diving into the ground at roughly 70* nose down. The bad new was everything front of the wing root is in little pieces, the good news it was a muddy corn field so the rest looks ok. I thinking of renaming it The Phoenix, it will rise again.

[bobbysbrother]

RE: Calypso with new look

Adhesive vinyl is available from multiple sources on the web. Which brand you buy depends in large part on the vinyl cutting equipment you own (if you're really committed to vinyl as I am) and the application and extent you wish to cover the plane in vinyl. I mostly use 12 inch wide Oracal 651 adhesive vinyl. In spite of some claims to the contrary it will stick to foam very well, with the exception of EPP foam.

The black you see on my Calypso is 651 and is 2.5 mils thick. Some adhesive vinyls are 3mils but I don't recommend their use. They do not work well on compound curve surfaces. The only time I use 3mil is with inkjet printable adhesive vinyl when i need a small special full color decal for some special detail reason.

The green you see pictured is not Oracal 651. It's a special super bright fluorescent vinyl that is double the price of 651 but only 2mils thick - which I buy from expressionsvinyl.com.

As for the underside of my Calypso. I used a combination of bright fluorescent red/orange and black stripe vinyl spread across both wings and the horizontal stab. There's no mistaking the underside from the top of this plane. That's for sure.

One of the problems with the Calypso, as you may know, is its very thin walled and weak fuse nose. It does not take much to crush it on a poor landing. To this end, and with the help of a fellow flying buddy with more experience with the calypso than me, I've added a carbon spar support to the fuse nose as a preventative measure. 

[Hippie 64]

RE: Calypso with new look

Great looking plane . I know that Wvrailfan uses vinyl a good bit , are there any special tips you can give to using them ? Do you need a Heatgun or anything along those lines? 


Thanks Bryan 

[Dparture]

RE: Calypso with new look

Just have to chime in on what a great looking color scheme/design that is for the Calypso... really stands out vs. stock while retaining the Calypso 'identity'...
Very nice.

[retiredflyer]

RE: Calypso with new look

I love it.  I too have a Calpyso and this looks great.  I will investigate the vinyl source you mentioned.  Very nice work.