I need some help regarding the shine of the mould. 

We spent almost two weeks on preparing our panel. We painted it and then sand this down to an absolute shine. It was 100% perfect. Then we applied 9 layers of mirror glaze wax.

When we pulled the plug for some reason the paint stuck to the mould. We did manage to get this off with thinners but was left with a few spots that we had to repair the plug. (wax additive + gel coat)

First question is why did the paint stuck to the gel coat – any tips? (2K Auto Paint)

The plug was sanded down and now we are trying to bring it to a shine. 

We used 1000 grit and then 2500 grit sandpaper. There are no other deep scratches on the plug and the polishing cream does not remove the 2500 grit scratches.  (Black Tool Gel Coat)

Should we worry that these small scratches will transfer when using mirror glaze?

I saw on e-bay a product called Micro-Mesh that has a grit size ranging from 1500 up to 12000.

What is the standard out there?

Are you polishing by hand or with a machine polisher?

We are using a machine polisher.

When you say polishing cream, do you mean cutting compound? There is a difference between them. Cutting compound is abrasive and designed to remove small scratches. Polish is just really wax to give protection and isn't really abrasive. The cream you mention may have worked on the paint as that will be softer than the gelcoat.
You really need a quality cutting compound with the correct compounding foam head on the polisher for gelcoat especially tooling gelcoat. Compound is available in different grades, I use Polarshine C20.

Warren

Carbon Copies Ltd

Two reason it would have stuck.

1- two part paints take a long time to cure properly so the remaining uncured paint will try to stick to the layup regardless of how much wax is there.

2- You should at least use a semi-permanent sealer like Frekote FMS. And then your waxes.



Read this http://www.rexco-usa.com/why-molds-stick/

The article explains how parts stick in moulds due to the moulds not being fully cured but the same applied to patterns/plugs and the paint surface not being fully cured.




I don't think the polish or how shiny the plug is has anything to do with the sticking.