Unboxing

All the Oratex UL600 needed (except for the wings), some Oratex 6000 for the landing gear, pinked edge tape, magic hot-melt glue, iron and hot air gun with digital temperature settings and some other things that will come in handy arrived in a big box this morning. 

What you see in the picture is all what is need; no solvents, no dope, no paint... (I know, I'm repeating myself...)

My apologize to anyone mislead by title and disappointed by not finding in-depth descriptions of the characteristic smell of the cardboard box and the quality of the packing material...

What is Oratex?

First of all, I’m not sponsored by Lanitz Aviation – or anyone else... Lanitz Aviation kindly offers me free freight on my orders but are not requesting anything in return. What I’m doing here, on my blog, is sharing my personal experience with this product just like I’m doing for the Simonini engine. 

Oracover used for model aircrafts

Oratex is an aircraft fabric covering system, produced by Lanitz Aviation, similar to what has been used for covering model aircrafts for a long time. It looks like a fabric textured colored plastic film, it is ironed-on using a water based heat activated clue and need no further treatment or painting.

In reality is an extremely strong (high tech) coated polyester fabric developed for general aviation. Oratex UL600 is lighter than traditional aircraft covering systems 90 to 120 g/m² all inclusive (depending on color) and the difference might be several kg even for a smaller aircraft. I assume that this is one of the reasons why the Solar Impulse design team chose Oratex fabric as the cover material...    

No dope, no paint, no sanding, no harmful chemical exposure, no smell and no fire hazard. I will be able to do the tail plane and rudders in my office and no problems to turn on the heater and close the doors when doing the fuselage and the wings in my workshop!

No paint that will peel off, no cracks, not flammable and easy to repair even in the field. 

For more information: The North American distributor of Oratex has a very informative website where you can find more information and some videos. Try also Lanitz Aviation's website and searching Oratex on YouTube .

The Oratex Adventure has started

As planned, I got the fuselage and all metal parts sand blasted and epoxy powder coated just before Christmas. It is amazing, it looks and feels like factory new...

It is time to start the "Oratex Adventure" and I have now ordered all UL600 needed to cover the fuselage, tail plane and rudders. Once that is done I will do the wings... to be followed... 

If God had intended us to fly, he would have given us more money...

I know you have all been there... trying to avoiding to say that what you are looking for is to be used in an airplane - just to save money, or rather, not to be ripped off...

This was the original seat in my Avid Flyer. There is nothing fancy about it, light weight, simple and "so and so" comfortable. But apparently it was very tasty to some rodent that really liked the stuffing... 
So I took it to an old style shoemaker near the airfield who I knew made seats for old cars and bikes. Really nice a cool guy so when he asked I told him it was for an ultra light aircraft (and not a private Lear Jet). We looked at different materials and he told me that leather (that was what I wanted) would be expensive and suggested some synthetic alternatives. So how much would it cost... Well he said, while he got euro symbols in the eyes, about 1.000-1.200 euros depending on the material... No point in asking for the price in leather...
And believe me, he was seriously thinking I would pay that kind of money. Where do they come from? Who made them think people who fly have money left?
It was too cold to work on the plane anyway so I bought a big piece of leather for 50 euros, took my old hand cranked Singer sewing machine and, with the seats from my long gone MGB in mind, I did the work myself. It took me a few hours and while the result is not "pro" it is good enough for me - particularly for thousand euro less - and it will look better when "worn in"!