Diacov - any user comments?

[Neil James]

I’m just starting on a 100” Minimoa kit and I’ve been looking around for covering materials as the 10m roll of antique solartex I’ve had in stock for the last 25 years turns out to be the end of a roll with adhesive only on the first metre!

I’ve seen that Sarik hobbies are selling Diacov, mentioned as a good replacement for natural solartex and I wondered if anyone has used it yet and would like to comment. It’s certainly cheaper than Oratex but I’ve never used that either so how do they compare?

[flight1]

well i have used diatex 1000 (which is the original non glue backed version) and I found it to be very good and was podering on getting the dicov to try myself, the diatex is defently more stable than solartex and lighter if painting too.

[Frank Skilbeck]

It's been used by the large scale glider guys for a few years. We've covered a couple of large scale gliders with Diacov and it's great, easy to apply, we were buying it from France. One of the Sarik guys has covered his 1/4 scale Cub in Diacov and pushed the management to stock it.....................................

BTW note that Diacov supplied width is wider than regular Solartex/Oratex rolls.

Can't comment on how it compares to Oratex as I've never used that, but it does seem a bit easier to use than Solartex, just not available coloured.

Edited By Frank Skilbeck on 30/06/2020 08:23:04

[martin collins 1]

I was going to try Polyspan sold by free flight supplies, anyone use that and can compare with Diacov?

[Frank Skilbeck]

Looks like Polyspan is a light weight material sold as a replacement for tissue, Diacov is basically a lighter weight version of full sized aircraft covering, more than twice the weight of the heavy weight Polyspan. So depends what you are building, if it's a lightweight model then Polyspan looks a good choice, but for larger heavier models then Oratex or Diacov is probably a better choice.