comparing gelcoats

I am currently making some car body parts without any gelcoat I plan on spraying a coat of duratec after all the glass work is done.

I have been reading where some cobra manufacturing companies build their fiberglass bodies using tooling gel coat, is there an advantage to this, if so why don't other companies do the same?

 

Tooling gelcoat for parts? Why on earth? Tooling gelcoat is high gloss, but usually a bit on the brittle side.

For your car parts: Use a sandable gelcoat. Most manufacturers carry these. (although you sometimes need to ask). This way the gelcoat can receive a good scuff, and be painted quickly.

 

yea I thought that was weird, I am going to skip gelcoat and spray a few layers of duratec, this is less expensive, less weight and takes the stress off worrying about the gelcoat finish, what do you think?

 

Using some type of gel coat in the mold makes it much easier to put a good finish on the part than trying to fair the surface and spray something on afterwards. Sanding gel is designed for this purpose, easy to spray in the mold, and easy to sand for paint prep.

Sanding on bare glass opens many small pits and imperfections that can be difficult to cover prior to painting.

Like Herman said, tooling gel coat is rather brittle, plus it has little or no UV protection, this results in a poor finished part.