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Interesting discussion:- lots of pro's & cons for wet and dry preservation.
A couple of points /tips to consider with alcohol preservation
1. If you kill a fly in Gaults solution or a dilute aqueous salt solution (even urine works well if you are really stuck for supplies out in the wilds!), all everscible structures evert, abdomens become fully expanded and the legs adopt an outstretched position. Just wash out the salts with water or low strength alcohol and then store or dry as per normal. I find that if subsequently dried properly, the material is much better to work with than the shrivelled distorted and sometimes mouldy material that has been impaled on a pin in the field
2. Some flies have a high oil content and get greasy on storage with setae matting etc (e.g. therevids seem to be prone to this). When drying from alcohol, you have to transfer toan apolat solvent like ethyly acetate to dry them out. Such solvents also remove the offending oils and the dry specimen never gets greasy. On the down side, when the oils have been removed, a specimen will be less strogly bound to a pin soit is probably better to card mount stuff dried from alcohol.
cheers
Adrian