Hi folks,
My small firm makes specialized stringed musical instruments; specifically hybrid guitar/viola/bowed guitar (guitar formatted violas called "
otherwise wooden instruments; particularly carbon graphite/fiber cast fingerboards as high-performance precision playing surfaces. This has
been going well for the last 6-7 years! The pivot to CF for structural material is next! Though I have been at this for some years, I have a lot
to learn!

Anyway, I have been developing models from carbon fiber/flax/hemp in various vacuum infusion/composite mold approaches. So far so good!
(Though I am still getting that lay-up routine down). On the other hand, I am finding out the (hard way) what a pain finishing Carbon Fiber cloth
can be! (fish eye/ wick suck effect etc). I have tried various thixotropic epoxies for an in mold gel coat (but have found those a bit too brittle and
even tenacious (even with ample PVA). So, I reverted back to a pour on approach which turned out a bit better but there were some fish-eyes
(not many, but...). Even though I gave it a good acetone wash. I have read that dish soap water also works? Or, would spraying a light acryllic
lacquer be compatible? Sort of a way of priming it with a clean light coat? Also, what effect does 3M spray glue (holding cloth in position for infusion)
have on finish impurities/prep? Is there a better approach? 



I am also considering any epoxy compatible gel coats and giving the in mold approach a chance (just afraid of screwing up my main mold). The pic above 
shows a glimpse of the part. (This got sanded off and I did a pour and, no shot of that but it showed promise). the other approach was that of gravity pour
while upside down like a boat hull. (Sorry about the sideways images, the black one has the pour-over)



 Anyway, I welcome any thoughts that lead to success! I am going to be doing a lot of these! Thanks in advance!

If you're not minded to go for a post production clear coat and you're located somewhere it can be shipped to, then EC's GC50 spray gel coat is really good and as long as it's reasonably warm when sprayed, gives a coating that retains really good clarity. I use it often with Cytec's Aerofix 3 and I don't get any problems with it showing on the surface. I'd only use as little as necessary, though, to limit the risk of issues occurring. It always release reliably and is very polishable

If you ever get issues with bridging in tight corners that might cause small to medium air bubbles, the fact that it behave like a polyester gel coat gives you the opportunity to fill them and polish everything back up again.

Thank you! Checking out all options! See how it goes!