Thought this was a pretty cool video shwocasing the Breeden's Glacier Cub with the Oratex fabric. Quite the lengthy thread on the fabric over at the other cool flying site. Thought I would share this. It does have 2.5 lbs of black paint over the olive green fabric. It sure does shine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjABCoUAL0

AKT

That is a beautiful plane.

I like the location of the N numbers.....think about it

aktahoe1 wrote:Thought this was a pretty cool video shwocasing the Breeden's Glacier Cub with the Oratex fabric. Quite the lengthy thread on the fabric over at the other cool flying site. Thought I would share this. It does have 2.5 lbs of black paint over the olive green fabric. It sure does shine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjABCoUAL0

AKT

It's blacker than black...

Love that movie!

Samples of red and blue are enroute to my place as we speak. I plan to put them on a frame and hang them on the fence at the airport till I'm ready to cover my plane. Sure they will only be outside for a year but that's better than nothing.

I'll first start this post by saying I think Oratex would be what I would want to cover my own airplane with if I were building. But.....

When Breeden stopped in Ohio on his way to Alaska, I flew up to Zanesville to see him and check out the Glacier Cub in person. (Very impressive machine). I arrived at the airport and started looking the plane over. I noticed that there were some wrinkles in the fabric on top of the wing- the fabric looked loose. I was a bit concerned. Bob showed up and gave me the tour of the plane and then he said look at the top of the wing! He noticed it the night before and he flew through some pretty good winds and turbulence to get there. It was cool out as well. I would say in the 40's.

We turned the plane so that the top of the wing was facing the sun and within one minute the skin tightened back up!!!!

Bob admitted he is no covering guy but I told him that everything I had read was that a heat gun will shrink it right up. I never heard anything else about it and I know they are flying the GC all over Alaska now so they must've got her tight.

Has anyone else heard of these issues?

I've never used Oratex....but those wrinkles that you're speaking of are common on jobs with conventional fabric that were done by using a "heat gun". There is almost NO control of the heat from one. One of the most important steps in conventional fabric is the even and thorough controlled shrinking of ALL the fabric. I'm not sure if it's the same with Oratex?
John

That looseness of the top skin (or anywhere else) can happen with ANY fabric covering. Speaking from experience here.....my first S-7 would show slight wrinkling in certain conditions, (cold, Poly Fiber) my bad as I obviously didn't get the heat shrinking just right. Mine would also go away with just a little sun on it. The big difference with the Oratex would be the capability of easily getting it out with the iron or heat gun. PolyTone paint over PolyFiber will tolerate a little careful further heating/shrinking after the initial shrink, been there and done that.

Can you get paint for metal parts that are a close match for the orotex fabric colors? Like for cowlings, struts, etc...

Oratex has paint.

I have now seen a few planes with the fabric up close and personal and I will leave it at that.

Akt

aktahoe1 wrote:Oratex has paint.

I have now seen a few planes with the fabric up close and personal and I will leave it at that.

Akt

Just curious, "leave it at that" as in you like it dislike it?

CamTom12 wrote:

aktahoe1 wrote:Oratex has paint.

I have now seen a few planes with the fabric up close and personal and I will leave it at that.

Akt

Just curious, "leave it at that" as in you like it dislike it?

Dislike

aktahoe1 wrote:Oratex has paint.

I have now seen a few planes with the fabric up close and personal and I will leave it at that.

Akt

That's been my experience as well. I really appreciate a nicely done fabric covering job. Straight tapes, feathered in smoothly, smooth transitions, minimal runs, etc.

To me, the Oratex process just doesn't look very nice. It may be airworthy and totally functional, but the planes done with it sure aren't as "pretty" as those done in other processes. And, no, I'm not talking about filling the weave so it's super glossy, rather the tapes, transitions, etc just seem to be tough to smooth out.

Maybe I've just seen turkeys.

I saw the Glacier Cub up close, and that cover job was as good as I've seen to date...not bad.

MTV

I've heard lots of people say they don't like how the edges of the tapes are exposed and that it takes away from the appearance of the airplane. I don't like the exposed edges either. It seems like they easily catch and start to pull off. But I hate painting and the ease of repairs is significant to me. What's worse, exposed tape edges or duct tape patches that stay a while because you don't want to take the plane out of service to do a proper color matched repair? Color matching sucks so I'd really like to use Oratex at least on the tail of my plane so applying a permanent patch is almost as easy as duct tape.

whee wrote:Color matching sucks so I'd really like to use Oratex at least on the tail of my plane so applying a permanent patch is almost as easy as duct tape.

I would be prepared to accept a "close" colour match for the easier horizontal tail repairs. Mine is pretty beat up already, after 350hrs, and repairs with standard covering systems are almost a day's work between coats and drying time.

Damage to the tail wings is a reality of any off-airport flying, but are a darn sight cheaper and easier to repair in this order = Oratex > Fabric > Aluminium.

whee wrote: Color matching sucks so I'd really like to use Oratex at least on the tail of my plane so applying a permanent patch is almost as easy as duct tape.

Oratex has some real merits to it, but like anything else in aviation, if you don't match the fabric to the mission, you aren't likely to get the most satisfaction.... If you are looking for a Lindy at Osh, it's going to be a lot tougher with Oratex than Airtech.... But good luck getting an Airtech cover job to get anywhere as light as Oratex.

If color matching is you're only concern, I'd say that's probably not enough to leave you happy with Oratex. Here's a tip for a Stewarts covered airplane, that will leave patching equally as easy as Oratex, and an exact color match every time.

When you cover your plane, build a couple 2' x 2' frames out of scrap tube and cover them as well. Do them at the very same time you cover the plane, including shrinking, primer, paint etc. Paint one in the body color, and the other half in the body color and half in the trim color. Shoot the paints out of the same gun / same time you are shooting the plane. When it dries, mark several doilies of varying sizes in both the body and the trim color. Also cut one or two out of the half and half frame that are half body color and half trim color.
Stewarts is so pliable that these patches can lie rolled up in the bottom of your tool bag,for as long as your airplane wears Stewarts fabric. And.. since Stewarts glue acts essentially like a contact adhesive, you can scuff the surface, apply glue to the surface and patch and just stick it on. This will leave a 'sharp' edge on your patch, like an Oratex patch would, but the color should be an exact match, and best yet, with a little effort. you will even be able to patch holes near a stripe, with out the heartache of trying to color match twice.

Obviously this isn't going to work with holes big enough to fit your head through, but for the typical tail feather holes it will work just dandy, and look it too....


Take care, Rob

Pre-painted dollar patches-- what great idea, Rob!