Diacov 1000

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John Higgins
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Diacov 1000

Postby John Higgins » November 8th, 2021, 4:18 pm

Since the demise of Solartex, covering choice seems to be limited to Oratex (a t£167 for a 10m roll!). I have heard mention of a covering material called Diatex 1000 and a similar product from Sarik Hobbies called Diacov 1000. Has anyone tried these products? If you have, what is your opinion of them as a Solartex replacement?
If you have painted the material, what type of primer/paint works best? I would normally use car cellulose or single pack acrylic.
If anyone can provide user feedback it would be much appreciated - I really don't want to go back to dope and nylon!
John Higgins

david walker
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby david walker » November 8th, 2021, 9:38 pm

John, like you I found the price of Oratex getting prohibitive and I used the Sarik Diacov 1000 on the Paul Hughes Shoestring. Was reasonably pleased with the finished but it was my learning curve having used Oratex in the past.

The good news is that it is wider than Tex, As a start point I coated the area's to be covered with Balsa lock. If you can't find it the Delux Materials equivalent is also good. The covering adheres and shrinks well but it does need a fairly high heat level.

What I did find however was that when trimmed the edges frayed and there were grain lines at places in the covering.

As a finish I used a grey acrylic undercoat and base coat car paint for the finished. I found the material was quite absorbent. it was finished in this case with a clear laquer.

On reflection there was two solutions which I think would help. The first simple It would be helpful if you got guidelines from Sarik and secondly before before I applied the undercoat I would have doped the material which would have hardened the frayed edges and allowed a rub over with a fine wet and dry to give a better surface before paints were applied.

I'm happy with the finish but it took longer to get there than previous models covered in tex.

One closing note, If as I have done in the past, you are covering sheeted area's, I would use Glass cloth and resin, Its not too difficult and gives a far superior finish and its much more ding proof.

Hope these notes help, Cheers Dave W

John Higgins
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Higgins » November 9th, 2021, 12:47 pm

Hi David. Many thanks for your information. I am in the middle of a 1/3 scale Cassutt Racer project. The fuselage is, in many places, open structure as are the tail and ailerons. Like you, I appreciate the superiority of glass/resin on sheeted surfaces and have been sold on the method since I ordered my first lot of glass and resin from a source in New Mexico many years ago!
I might give the new stuff a try. I won't be ready for covering and painting until the warm weather arrives so I do have plenty of pondering time in hand.
Regards, John H

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Peter Smedley
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby Peter Smedley » November 10th, 2021, 8:09 pm

I’m just covering an open structure using rips top nylon and dope for the first time. Very labour intensive and the fumes need a mask. Very cheap though.
Fly ‘til I die...

Dougie Sheppard
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby Dougie Sheppard » November 15th, 2021, 8:12 am

Hi, I used diatex 1000 with the Delux Materials equivalent to Balsaloc with excellent results on my BU180.(build thread is on the forum)
I tacked the Diatex in place with a medium heat before shrinking and fixing at the highest setting on my modelling covering iron.

Sheeted areas were coated in G4 pond sealer and open structures were given two coats of dope and I am delighted with the results. The G4 sands beautifully and I have had no issues with edges lifting or fraying.
I have painted a small test area for the Nazi national markings on the tail using acrylics and the results seem very good so far..

I must thank John Greenfield for puting me on to this material.

John Higgins
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Higgins » November 17th, 2021, 3:41 pm

Hi Dougie. Many thanks for your input. I see that you are a convert to G4 Pond sealer; I remember John Greenfield giving a demonstration of the stuff when we used to have the spring seminar at Haigh Hall in Wigan. I've use the stuff many times for applying glass cloth and am sold on the method - four coats in quick succession, a final sand and the finish is ready for paint. The only snag is the G4 quickly goes off in the tin if you have some left over.
The scales seem to be tipping towards Diacov 1000!
Regards, John H

John Greenfield
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Greenfield » November 18th, 2021, 9:02 am

The trick to stop G4 going off in the tin is to remove the air gap in the tin by decanting the remaining G4 into a smaller tin or jar and fill it all the way to the top......or just buy a smaller tin in the first place !

John

david walker
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby david walker » November 19th, 2021, 8:52 pm

hi John H, some good input. I still have a little Diacov left if you would like a sample just drop me a note and I'll send some for you, see you can see how it looks ,

Cheers Dave Walker

John Higgins
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Higgins » November 22nd, 2021, 12:18 pm

Thanks to John Greenfield for the G4 tip (I'll now start saving small jars!) and to Dave Walker for his kind offer.
Regards, John H

stuart knowles 1611
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby stuart knowles 1611 » November 22nd, 2021, 2:05 pm

The absense of a reasonably priced tex covering material is becoming a real concern for anyone who builds. I cannot for the life of me understand how Solartex could be sold for £40 /10m roll and now Oratex is priced at £160 for the same quantity.
Could I ask you to come back here and relate how you got on with Diacov.

Isn't there version with 'built in adhesive' and one without??

How does this stuff compare with Ceconite Light??

Anyone know??

John Greenfield
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Greenfield » November 23rd, 2021, 7:56 am

Stuart

Diatex 1000 is the covering without adhesive and can be brought by the metre from Skycraft Ltd. It comes on a roll 70" wide so is very economical to use. The correct Low Taught dope can also be brought from Skycraft. Diatex 1000 is slightly lighter than Ceconite Light and my experience is that it takes less dope to fill the weave so overall will produce a lighter covering.
Diacov is the covering with adhesive. It is 75cm wide and can be brought from Sarik.

John G

stuart knowles 1611
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby stuart knowles 1611 » November 23rd, 2021, 9:13 am


John Greenfield
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Greenfield » November 24th, 2021, 8:44 am

stuart knowles 1611 wrote:Thanks John, useful to know.
I take it that the Nitrate Low Taught clear dope is the one best for our purposes?
https://skycraft.ltd/cgi-bin/sh000042.pl?WD=taught%20low%20dope&PN=Nitrate%2DLow%2DTaut%2DClear%2DDope%2D%2D1Lt%2D%2D%2D1%2E06%2DUS%2DQuart%2D%2DD102%2D1%2Ehtml#SID=543


Yes, that the one.

John

Cary Bailey
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby Cary Bailey » November 24th, 2021, 3:44 pm

As I understand it, Diatex and Diacov are made by the same company! I spoke to Skycraft’s MD (can’t remember his name as it’s in my book at home) but they could get the adhesive version of Diatex if needed but there was a minimum requirement. As they provide the materials for full size aircraft, which doesn’t use the adhesive covering they opted not to stock it.
Cary

John Greenfield
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby John Greenfield » November 25th, 2021, 8:18 am

Cary

That is correct which is why Sarik decided to stock it and provide it for modellers.

John

Daniel Jacquinot
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Re: Diacov 1000

Postby Daniel Jacquinot » April 1st, 2022, 7:38 pm

Hello,
Diatex is a French company.
You can find all the data about their products here:
https://www.diatex.com/fr/categorie/div ... entoilage/
Daniel


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