Thin films of SrAl12O19 were prepared on alpha-Al2O3(0001) substrates through the chemical solution deposition method and thermal treatment. Two types of precursor systems were used: stoichiometric mixture of strontium methoxyethoxide with aluminium iso-butoxide, and strontium methoxyethoxide topotactically reacting with Al2O3 substrate. Two distinctly different film-substrate orientation relationships were observed. In the latter case the orientation can described as perfect hexagon-on-hexagon epitaxy with (11 (2) over bar0)(Sral12O19)parallel to (10 (1) over bar0)Al2O3 and (00011,Al2O3 It (0001)SrAl12O19, This relationship has 1.17% lattice misfit in the substrate plane. In the former case SrAl12O19 grains are rotated about the substrate normal and form more orientation variants that can be explained by the coincident-site lattice model for grain boundaries. We demonstrated that both types of SrAl12O19 films can be used as a chemical buffer and structural template layer for the growth of oriented hexagonal ferrite thin films. In both types of films the (BaSr)Fe12O19 phase cope the in-plane orientation of their respective templates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.