This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
I wanted to find out the diference between the two. If Spraying how much paint would the 5EXI take to spray. I was looking at something like TVR blue to green or something along those lines and wanted to get some prices.
I had been trying to decide between the two myself - i mean which i prefer. At the end of the day though cost won. It was estimated in one of the mags that for a decent spray job you'd be looking at between 1 and 1.5k. Because I want to add doors (1kish) it means I cant afford the spray job Id really like.
On the other hand I think the car will look really mint in yellow (the colour Ive finally settled on) - even if lots of them have been made that colour - i figure theres only 30 or so in the whole country so its still very unique
Oh, and a gel coat is (I believe) where the paint is part of the moulding process which gives it its chip resistance. By contrast spray just coats the body in a layer.
A spray painted finish is nicer. You have more choice in colours, the finish is shiner and easier to keep shiny.
Against paint? Well as it has been said, a chip in gelcoat just shows more gelcoat. If it does go through or is deep etc, just fill with more gelcoat. This is then easy to finish off. Scratches are easier to hide / sort out. When gelcoat fades, t/cut / polishing will normally get the shine back.
But if gelcoat has all these advantages over paint, why do production cars get painted?
Isnt it because production car bodies are usually made from metal and so cant have the colour "mixed" into the actual parts?
I think gel coating is part of the body material.
I still could be wrong though
The other way I looked at colouring is that to start with you could leave the car gelcoated and then later down the line once the cars built you could look at spraying - i figured this would save me the money initially.
Don't know how much everyone else is budgeting for the car, but it doesnt seem easy to keep costs near 8k. A safer bet seems 11k!
