Bearhawk Aircraft Bearhawk Tailwheels LLC Eric Newton's Builder Manuals Bearhawk Plans Bearhawk Store

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Oratex nightmare

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Oratex nightmare

    After months of waiting for my fabric to arrive I was excited to see it on Monday. When I opened the Box everything appeared to be there including 3 rolls of the oratex 6000 fabric. We took the 1st roll out and cut it and started applying it to the control surfaces. Today we opened the other 2 roles to begin covering the fuselage. We noticed right away that it was a slightly different color. The 2nd and 3rd roles were definitely much brighter white then the 1st roll. As you can see in the pictures it is drastically different. I contacted oratex and they are going to let me know tomorrow what their thoughts are but they implied that there is nothing they would do about it. What would you do if you were in my place?
    You do not have permission to view this gallery.
    This gallery has 2 photos.

  • #2
    Is it that they dont want to admit that they have crappy quality control of what the colors come out to be ? why wouldnt they just
    replace with correct color I wonder ? If every roll is slightly different--- there will be a LOT of people who wont tolerate that and just
    use another brand. I hope thats not the case........

    Comment


    • #3
      The colors are probably going to fade once the airplane is operational, so I'd disregard the difference and carry on. I'd assume that you are valuing function over beauty by selecting the oratex process anyway?

      Also, if you use the first roll on the flaps, ailerons, and horizontal tail surfaces, you might not ever notuce the mismatch anyway. If this costs you some efficiency and requires more material, perhaps you have some explicit recourse with the seller.
      Last edited by jaredyates; 05-03-2018, 06:22 AM.

      Comment


      • #4
        They have white and also natural white, Did they possibly send you one roll of the wrong color. Did you already have some of their fabric to compare or was that someone else? For the price I would demand they replace the off color roll if that is the case. Does not speak well of their quality control if that is the issue.

        Comment


        • #5
          I mostly agree with Jared. It’s going to fade and you picked Oratex for its function not beauty. However, if they won’t replace the off color roll they should at least significantly discount it. If they won’t then file a dispute through your credit card company.
          Scratch Built 4-place Bearhawk. Continental IO-360, 88" C203 McCauley prop.

          Comment


          • #6

            It would seem obvious and elementary that all fabric in a single order would originate from the same die lot, and be identical in color. I would insist on that standard, and not depend of future fading of the fabric. Do they know this is being discussed in a public forum? Oratex is high on my list of covering systems. I am watching - others are too.

            I speculate that you had to wait for 2 months to get your product because it was back ordered, and shipped from Germany to Anchorage to you. If I am right, they do not have much (if any) inventory on hand....to get deliveries out on time, or to fix problems.
            Brooks Cone
            Southeast Michigan
            Patrol #303, Kit build

            Comment


            • #7
              I too am watching with a high level of interest as to how they handle this issue. I really seems like it might be a different color, white vs natural white, which they would hopefully rectify without issue.

              I will not presume to tell you why you picked Oratex or that you should be okay with this as a result...
              Dave B.
              Plane Grips Co.
              www.planegrips.com

              Comment


              • #8
                It seems there is no magic bullet when it comes to covering.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Obviously they should match. Let us know what Oratex says. We used silver and have not seen any variance but maybe silver would not show different shades as easily. However, I think they should be able to match the colors as one of the big benefits to Oratex being the fabric is pre coated and painted.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    At the very least, I'd want to figure out why the rolls appear different. Could it be a simple ordering or inventory tracking mistake, or could it be a true QA issue. If the latter, I would request assurance that other quality aspects didn't also slip through the cracks, such as fabric integrity and airworthiness.
                    Mark
                    Scratch building Patrol #275
                    Hood River, OR

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      So I sent pictures showing the obvious difference on Wed night to Lars and Paul. They said that it's most likely that 1 roll came from a different lot or run. He said he would contact the "germans" and get back to me. Never heard anything back until today when I received an email from Lars stating he highly dislikes that I posted my issues on a public forum. He said someone from here notified them which I'm happy about. He still has no answer as to what they will do. Lars is saying its the germans decision and making it sound like they are separate companies and he has no control over what they do. He says I should have caught the issue before applying anything to my aircraft. I informed him the we removed the plastic cover from roll #1 and used it. It wasn't until we removed the plastic wrap from roll #2 that we noticed the difference. According to him it is my mistake for not inspecting and rolling out all rolls before using any.

                      I got quotes over the weekend to have the plane painted and had them separate the fabric from the alum areas and both quotes were north of 8k because they don't know how the paint will adhere. Do you think its fair to ask for all my money back since this will no cost me more than it would have if I used Stewart or some other Legacy fabric? I'm not trying to be unreasonable but I don't have 8k ro throw away.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I saw Lars today and he brought up the problem. While I am not involved and will not "take a side" in this (you did not buy a kit from us), I do agree with Lars that you should have given him the opportunity to deal with your complaint before posting this to a public forum.

                        I also looked back at your original posting and you do not mention in your posting that you purchased the grade #2 fabric at a discount according to Lars. This is a relevant fact that should be mentioned. Mark

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Mark, I posted it here to get fellow builders opinion on what is fair and if I'm seeing it correct.

                          I would have mentioned it was #2 if it were relevant. When I agreed to take the #2 fabric [because #1 would take longer] I asked if it would affect color or finish. They told me the only difference between 1 and 2 would be a pea size or smaller blemish that would be no closer than every 3 meters. I asked a second time about color and was told it all comes from the same lot and color is NEVER an issue. Since I planned to use a few small vinyl decals, I figured I could hide the pea size areas under the decals. How do I hide 2 different colors?
                          Last edited by muleyman78; 05-06-2018, 11:21 PM.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            According to him it is my mistake for not inspecting and rolling out all rolls before using any.

                            With hindsight that would have been a smart thing to do, but the primary fault is with the factory for not ensuring that they were sending you rolls of a consistent color.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I don't have a dog in this fight but I do have my suspicions that what happened is that one roll was out of a different lot run so the coloring is a little off. It's like replacing floor tile, if you can't get tile from that same lot it will always be a little off on color. I can sure understand being upset.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X