Hi all

I want to try infusing a part with a partial in-mould coating of gelcoat, so that only a selected strip of the carbon fabric is visible within a part largely showing a coloured gelcoat surface finish

However, when using the spray gun and masking off the edges of moulds using normal masking tape it hardly sticks at all on moulds that are well treated with Easylease

Is there a better tape out there that will provide a bit more tack whilst not compromising the release coated surface? Not sure if there is a real danger of the release agent being 'pulled away' by the tape adhesive?

Also, has anyone found a reliable timeframe in which to remove the tape without pulling away the coating or ruining the sharpness of the masked lines?

Cheers

Can you just infuse the part without the gel coat and once done, mask off the part and paint it? 

Best bet is to do 3 or 4 coats of release wax over the top of the Easylease. Should raise the surface tension enough for the masking tape to stick. You do still need to be careful though, you can blow the tape off with the spray gun if you get too close or give it too much pressure. It could well take you a couple of tries before you get it right. 

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the replies. I'll give the 3M a go along with the addition of some wax coats and prepare myself for a bit of experimentation with regards to timing. Painting afterwards would indeed appear the most straightforward option and one I might resort to ifall else fails 

Just as an update on this, I used the 3m tape as recommended and it worked great. Very nervy pulling the tape away and I only left it for half an hour as didn't want to risk a big sections of partially cured gelcoat coming away

Great! THanks for the follow up! Nice job!

That looks great, have you got a pic of the whole car/bike?

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the positive comments gents

The process seemed  to work well. However, some friends with similar cars were a bit 'lukewarm' to the idea. One commented that it looked a bit like someone had stuck some vinyl wrap to a GRP wing! The slightly different choice of fabric didn't seem too well received either (heathens!).

I've stuck with good old twill weave for now, but might return to the idea later and yes, it might work better using different fabric and perhaps trying some of the hybrids is the way to go

I've attached some pics of the whole car which has some bits on I've recently made, including side panels, half-doors, diffuser, boot panel and aero screen. The front cycle wings, pictured separately, have been modified from an item more widely available to include a ducted section. The practical purpose is to release air from underneath and reduce any 'lift' at speed, but if I'm honest it's probably more of a cosmetic mod . Believe it or not, each wing has eight separate pieces of carbon making up the surface layer. A bit fiddly, but you really can hide most of the joins in the curves (aside from the side profile where it's nigh on impossible to get  the weave to match the top surface all the way round in an acceptable manner).