Hello Everyone,

Basically, I've had a go at running before I can walk and stumbled into a problem or 2 I'm hoping somebody can help me with.

The first mould I've had a go at making is for a roll top bath which wasn't going too bad until I had to use Reface to fix any high and low points.
I had never used a spray gun before and didn't do any practice pieces beforehand, I just made sure the gun sprayed properly and jumped in and went for it.

The gun worked okay briefly and then I started having problems with intermittent spraying and no matter what I done, I couldn't get it working properly.
After trying various things the gun seized and was ruined. My fix for this was to brush it on and in my naivety I didn't think it would be too bad... :/

I've gone upto a 40 grit paper and leveled out the brush marks/high points pretty well but, now I have low points where wood is showing through (only a couple of places and nothing too major) and high points where it's still pretty thick Reface (in the corners and where the base meets the walls of the tub) and obviously the scratches from the 40 grit paper..

What I'd like help with is, how is it best to save my hard work, does anybody have any pointers/do's/don'ts before I destroy things further? Should I sand things down and use a paint roller to put on another coat of Reface and start again to a certain extent?

I was thinking to carry on sanding down with finer grit paper, go over any bare bits with more reface (and there maybe a couple of bits that could do with a thin layer of filler first?), and blend it all in with some fine grit paper..

What does anybody think? Any help/ideas are greatly appreciated.. And yes, I know I've been a bit of an impatient arse about all this and I will organise a spray painting course as soon as money permits!

Thanks for your're time reading this, I hope you can help. Rob

If you have gone down to the wood, you need another layer really to ensure you get a good finish.  What you can do is pigment the new layer a slightly different colour to the layer underneath.  That way as you sand, you can see how deep you are cutting.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Hi Warren, thanks for the reply.

So what you think, I need to apply a coat of  reface to the whole mould or just the bear patches and blend it all together?

Nice idea about the pigment,, would something like this be good to use?- https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Latex-Colourant-RED-2oz/322336081407?hash=item4b0cba45ff:g:ywcAAOSw3utY4Wqh

You need to choose a pigment suitable for your resin system.  The pigment you linked to is a silicone pigment.

You can fill in the low areas, but if it is easy to sand, then coat the whole part as you don't know how low some of the areas are.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

I think you are much better off using something like Easy Composites Pattern Coat Primer. High build but easy to sand, which is important or you will never get a flat surface.

Hi Hanaldo,

Thanks for the reply.

It was actually Easy Composites tutorial videos that got me into the whole carbon fiber making funkiness in the first place and their website is great! The only thing that stopped me ordering from them is the fact I'm in Australia!

Okay, the Easy Composite Pattern Coat Primer and Pattern Coat Hi Gloss systems make the most sense if I have to coat the whole mould again. How many coats of the primer and hi gloss would I need and can I apply it using a paint roller? Also, am I right in thinking I won't need to use any pigment if I use the above mentioned primer/gloss?

Thx, Rob

The Reface I used is a polyester based filler.

This particular filler is quite hardwork to sand down. I do feel reasonably happy about just patch filling the bear areas and then blending it all together. But, obviously I want a really good finish, so how bigger corner am I cutting by only spot filling and blending in.. would it still give me acceptable results??

If you're in Australia, get in touch with CG Composites and order Scott Bader Primecoat and Glosscoat. Very similar product to what Easy Composites sell.

You really don't want anything that is hard to sand. The more effort you have to put into sanding, the more likely you are digging a hole and won't achieve a flat surface. 

It is generally much harder to spot fill than it is to fill a larger area, because by the time you have got the filled area flat you have dug a low spot around the outside of it. I do a lot of body repair work, and it took me awhile to learn that it is actually much quicker to cover the whole thing and sand it down than it is to try to do small areas because you tend to chase yourself in circles when you do patches.

You are likely going to need to do more than the next coat though, so what you might do is spot fill the low areas, and flat it down with 80 grit (on a block!). Then do another full coat over the entire thing, and with any luck you will get it flat with just that application. If you start to go through again, stop sanding and apply another coat. 

I've not spoken to anybody at CG Composites but on the website it says their Bader Primecoat is made for spray guns, where as easy composites is able to be brushed on which suits me just fine at the minute. But I'll ring up first and make sure.

Thanks for the pointers  Hanaldo, muchly appreciated.

PS, one other thing, how finer grit would I have to go down to before I can put my gelcoat on??

The Scott Bader stuff works fine for brushing, there's no dramas there. It needs to be thinned with MEK for spraying, so straight out of the tin it's a tad on the thin side but still ok for brushing.