I know this has come up a few times recently

i've been testing some repairs before i attack the bodywork, i bought the Gelcoat pre coloured with the Ral colour code

it does look like a really good match in the tin, but once it's set i seem to get a outline of the repair.
is that normal when doing repairs or should it be invisible, it feels nice and smooth, just almost looks transparent even though it's a rich red

here's a couple of piccys


Gelcoat repair

Gelcoat repair

That's normal

The problem is probably exacerbated by the fact that gelcoat fades with time so if you get the same RAL code it will only be the same colour when it's new and it's likely that the gelcoat around it has faded, hence making it more obvious. Trouble is if you adjust the gelcoat colour to compensate for the fade it will fade differently with time and go a different colour.

shame i was hoping it might be something i'm doing wrong with the mixing/applying

it's not so clear in the photo but it looks like a dark outline more than a colour mismatch ie you can see the area that i dug out to apply the gelcoat

Bright red must of been the worse colour to try!

I have a similar kit hopefully landing on its door step soon, I hope my results are better with blue!

Just out of interest, please could you explaing what steps you took for a pretty decent result even if it is the wrong colour!?!



Thanks in advance,

Biz

Biz,
on my test piece i dug a grove for the gelcoat, then sanded it with 240 and the area around, i then taped a square with masking tape, then i cleaned it with acetone
i mixed about 1 tea spoon of gelcaot to 3 drops of catalyst. then placed some mylar clear film over the top, as the top layer doesn't dry to air, then leave for about 24hrs

let us see the results you get, hopefully a better colour match eh

the gelcaot and stuff i got from eastcoast fibreglass.

i might send of my test piece see if a company out there can colour match it