Oratex Fabric

Oratex

Oratex is a pre coloured aircraft covering system which is water based and solvent free. Oratex represents a major breakthrough in aircraft fabric covering systems. It is currently certified for use in Europe and Canada

Oratex comes ready to use with everything built in. It doesn’t need any sealer, any primer, any UV protection and no paint. In fact, it needs no coatings at all!

No solvents, no paint, no smell, no exposure to toxic chemicals of any kind. Just glue it, shrink it, and fly it!

 

Non-toxic and environmentally friendly

The use of the Oratex covering system ensures your safety. There is no need to wear respirators, no need to wear gloves, no need for pressure fed breathing systems, in fact, you can use Oratex in your front room! Oratex is water based and tools are simply cleaned with cold water.

 

Lightweight

Oratex is the lightest covering system on the market. The weight of legacy covering systems can vary vastly depending on the skill used, or lack of it! The weight of Oratex is perfectly consistent, and it is lighter than even the lightest cover job done in Ceconite, Polyfiber or Superflite. It gives you significant weight savings compared to other options on the market- around 10-30kg saving over aircraft covered in the old legacy covering products.

 

Quick and stress-free application

Other systems require the application of multiple coats of fillers, primers, UV protection and topcoats. The application of all those coats takes a lot of time (300-500 hours is average). Unless you cover aircraft for a living, each coat is another opportunity for something to potentially go wrong. Covering with Oratex will take on average, around 100 hours. No runs, no spills, no splattering. No ruined work from over aggressive sanding.

 

Oratex Adhesive

Oratex adhesive is a truly modern adhesive with the properties of a hot melt adhesive, combined with an Epoxy and a Super Glue all rolled into one.  Simply paint it on and let it dry. Then, come back in a few hours (or a few weeks!)  and use the heat from your iron or heat gun to activate the adhesive. Our adhesive can withstand a force of more than 100 pounds per square inch!

 

Grades of Oratex

Oratex comes in 2 weights, both made from highly modified Polyester, the difference being the number of filaments in each fibre.

Oratex 600 has been designed for the Microlight and light wing loading aircraft (in the UK a wing loading of 11.6lbs per sq foot and a VNE of 170mph) whilst the Oratex 6000 has been designed for aircraft that can weigh up to 6000kg, although there is an increasing trend for builders of even lightweight aircraft to opt for the ORATEX 6000 for added strength and toughness.

 

Choice of colours

Oratex comes in a wide range of colours which gives you a huge choice to customize your aircraft. The range of colours currently available include:

 

Oratex can also be painted if you require specialty colours.

 

Skills

TLAC offer regular training courses to teach you how to achieve a great result when covering your aircraft. Courses are run for no more than 5 people at a time and the course covers all aspects of Oratex, how to use it and the tips and tricks we have learnt over the 10 years of using the product. If you can cover a model aircraft then you are 90% of the way there, but we will teach you how to get a great finish to your aircraft.

 

 

Oratex is a product of Lanitz-Prena, located in Leipzig Germany. TLAC is the sole distributor for the UK.