I am a little over 12K in covering materials for Oratex. It can be done cheaper. This included all of the tools (heat gun, iron, consumables, etc). I also ordered enough to cover an extra elevator for practice before moving on to the actual aircraft. Another thing that increased my cost was ordering two different colors of fabric. This means you end up with a lot of extra fabric and tapes at the end. For example when you cover the wings you can use the scraps to cover the ailerons but my ailerons are a different color so I was unable to utilize the extra pieces. I was also not the most careful at sizing the fabric and had probably a little too much waste causing me to have to order a little extra fabric for the rudder. I would like to have had just a little more margin on my first order so I would suggest ordering some extra fabric upfront and save on the shipping.
Oratex is a completely different material than the traditional Dacron systems and you can't use the same methods to apply it. It definitely requires a different skill set.
What I like:
Weight savings. My last cub was fairly light for a cub, the paint was not thick and having weighed pieces of that fabric I think Better Aircraft Fabrics claims of 20 to 30 lbs of savings over traditional systems is conservative. I would've saved something closer to 35lbs. I don't think you can find a single other mod to save that much weight.
No painting and no fumes. I didn't want to build a paint booth and the thought of shortening my life by huffing MEK all day for months was not appealing.
Tough. It is much more resistant to punctures than Dacron. It can also be used for things like a lighter weight seat back/spring or in place of interior panels (although I've got Randys carbon panels because Im rough on interiors)
No future ringworm and super easy to patch. My order also included their patch kit. It is preglued fabric that you cut to size and stick on the hole. When you get a chance you iron it to make it tight and more permanent. It doesn't get easier than that.
What I dislike:
The glue on the finishing tapes is a little wimpy. They do make an adhesion promotor for it and if you are careful you could tape and glue with the primary system glue (which is an outstanding glue). I also went with the straight edge tapes, I believe they go on easier with this system. That said if one lifts you just heat it and stick it back down. I'm pretty sure finishing tapes are more cosmetic than structural with Oratex.
Finish. You just can't get the finished/smooth look of traditional systems. I suppose you could paint it but I think you would lose out on the weight savings and one of the biggest advantages if you did. I think it looks great when applied correctly but a wet sanded nice polyfiber or similar finish is another level.
Reshrink. As oratex heats it gets stretchy. It seems to have about the same amount of shrink as dacron, but the problem is it gets stretchy as it gets warm so I don't think it can pull as hard when you shrink it. Most oratex planes (that i've seen) that operate in the cold get wrinkles in the fabric. This isn't a big deal, you just have to hit it again with some heat to remove the wrinkles. After you do that once the wrinkles will be gone for good and reheating oratex isn't a problem.
No biased tapes and dealing with curves. They way oratex achieves rounding a curved surface (like elevators, rudder and stabilizers) is by heating and stretching and also shrinking. I was able to do my entire plane without any problems except where my nav light mounts are located and I was able to hide my little fabric puckers there using a method Lars described to me. I am very glad that I did a practice piece with curved surfaces first or I may not have done so well.
Ribstitching thread. You can't use waxed rib stitching thread. It takes a little time to figure out how to get their thread to pull tight and then you must glue each knot. The whole system is faster but you will spend more time ribstitching.
Priming metal surfaces. I used polyfiber epoxy primer on the wings for longevity. But you will need to prime metal surfaces where the glue contacts anyways to get the design strength. I don't believe that traditional systems require this??
Overall I'm happy. You will save a lot of time, health points, and you will get a stronger product that is much lighter. Most of my gripes are very minor, I do wish the glue on the finishing tapes was a little stronger being my main complaint. It is also a little pricey but what is your time worth?!