A pair of kitcar cycle wings, vacuum bagged, no gelcoat and prior of trimming and clearcoating. What do you guys think? 
looks good!
Very nice, how did you make them and what out of?
Thanks guys.
Evodelta, i made them with vacuum bagging and out of carbon fiber, not sure if i fully understand your question.
I meant what kind of resin and did you use infusion?
excellent work. what did you use as a surface agent? gelcoat? clear coat? nothing?
My bet is they have a gel coat surfaceā¦ now we will see if iām wrong.
I could never get that glossy with PER, VER, or Epoxy alone.
Need to have shiny molds! Even a clear gel coat will look dull coming out of a dull mold.
Epoxy resin and plain vacuum bagging, no infusion.
My bet is they have a gel coat surfaceā¦ now we will see if iām wrong.
I could never get that glossy with PER, VER, or Epoxy alone.
I used nothing as a surface agent. Just epoxy resin, no gelcoat, no clearcoat. The only problem with that is that i got some tiny microscopic pores in the epoxy surface which i hope will be covered adequately by the clearcoat.
Fastrr, you need a shiny mold to get this result. Your part will come as good as your mold.
I would be grateful if you could give me some instructions on clearcoating as i have not any decent experience with clearcoating.
Automotive clearcoating āAFTERā the pull ? or Gelcoating in the mold ??
As often as possibleā¦like TET eluded too, Iād clear gel the interior of the female mold firstā¦and just when slightly tacky from dryingā¦lay in your lay-up schedule.
Going the Automotive clear-coat route only is a personal choice depending on your audience and needs.
If your mold surface isnāt perfectly shined(as inā¦like glass,literally)ā¦nor will be the part when its pulled .Period.
In factā¦a slight degrade in finish is normal to some extent. So it all goes downhill after the plug,lol.
You CAN get a near ādry carbonā effect by going with zero clear gel-coat in the moldā¦and running your vac. to dangerous lean conditionsā¦but thats tricky and not recommended.
For a dry carbon lookā¦its best done via Autoclave and pre-preg cloths.
You can achieve a dryer/flatter sheen via Automotive clears sprayed with a Flatner additiveā¦if desired.
Oh, I almost forgot to askā¦are these fenders for a Super Seven or Lotus ??
Automotive clearcoating āAFTERā the pull is the right answer.
You are right to wonder why i donāt use any clear gelcoat on the female mold prior of laying up. The answer is that the epoxy clear gelcoat that my supplier sells is extremely expensive, something like 30-35 Euros/Kg. I have bought quite a lrge amount of polyster clear gelcoat but alwyas i hesitate to use it as i usually hear bad comments on the āPE gelcoat-epoxy layup resinā debate. People who have done that tell that the bond between PE gelcoat and epoxy is not that strong and many times the gelcoat peels like an egg. But i think i should try it and judge by myself.
Yes, those fenders are the āSuper 7ā type!
if the thixotropic enhancer liquid i ordered does the job, we will be able to use epoxy resin as a surface coat without it running off, and with reduced cost (as opposed to a clear epoxy gelcoat)
which is the expensive clear epoxy gel you say, the ātranslucentā one that fibermax sells? I have used r-gās ācolourlessā epoxy gel, but it was nowhere near clearā¦more like foggy, so you can use colour paste to dye it. great stuff thoughā¦
Yes, it is the tralslucent of fibermax.
http://www.fibermax.eu/shop/product_info.php?cPath=67&products_id=659
The only downside is this: You are going to build up in thickness and weight by using resin (let it be clear gelcoat or plain epoxy with thixotropy enhancers) prior laying up. You will also build up in thickness and weight by clercoating, so you have UV protection and shiny looks. With this method you add a lots of weight because you make the job twice.
If we could manage to solve the problem only by using clearcoat (automotive clear) after mold release this would be optimum in terms of final product weight as we will build thickness and weight only once.
Another proven solution is Duratec but this is highly expensive tooā¦
i know what youāre saying about dead weight, i mean, on a 4.5kg carbon hood, 1kg was the gelcoat! but this is what protects the surface from the wrath of nature . When the car has rain and mud splattered on it, and the guy goes to sponge it down , how would you like mud sticking in all the tiny holes left behing by the porous surface? disgusting isnt itā¦ thereās gotta be a protective layer, and clearcoat doesnt cover up imperfectionsā¦the most it will cover is a perfect surface without gelcoat (like when you do a wet layup and turns out fine, but you can see the difference between where the fiber runs and where resin pools between the weavesā¦)
That epoxy clear gel coat sounds like a nice product. Iād like to see a finished part using this.
Most people donāt care about the extra weight of clearcoatā¦ if you think about it race cars are painted carbon fiber and then on top of the paint are decals and clear coat.
I would like to try the clear epoxy gel coat by slightly tinting the transluscent gel coat blue, purple, or redā¦ just to give a slight color to the carbon fiber under it. I would also like to experiment with powdered pearl addative in epoxy coat.
its higly unlikely to get a good finish with thatā¦ since itās brushed, wherever there are brush strokes, there will be a difference. better spray your tints and pearls in a clear coat (even that requires skill)
i have made a carbon rear lip with a āmilkyā looking translucent gelcoat, but it turned uglyā¦ now i havent seen fibermaxās gelcoat,but my curiosity isnt worth around 50 euros at the moment 
Echidna how much vacuum did You have in this vacuum bagging