l_jonez wrote:Just a quick question, does the colour of the gel coat have a name? There's a few bits that need a touch up and at the moment I'm starting to like the colour
The original gelcoat colours were supplied by DSM and the original colour chart can be found at
http://www.midas.orba-design.com/index. ... general%2FHowever, DSM no longer make gelcoat pigments so knowing the name is of little use, but the colour chart does give the BS4800 number for some of the colours, so for example if you think the colour that matches yours is the one that DSM called Cream then that is BS4800 09-1368 (That is only an example as I would find it difficult to match any of the colours on that chart to the photo of your car). The best range of gelcoat pigments is currently made by Llewellyn Ryland
http://www.llewellyn-ryland.co.uk/colourcards.html You could try contacting them as they are quite happy to send out the colour cards for all their gelcoat pigment ranges and have been known to send out samples of pigments, that can be mixed with clear gelcoat to see what colour they set.
Having said all that, it is very difficult to match in gelcoat spot repairs. Just ask a few GRP laminators, or repair experts. The pigments in gelcoat are more thinly distributed than in paint and are more effected by UV light, so even if you had a pot of the original gelcoat pigment it would be difficult to blend in a repair. I have had more success with getting panels painted to match the original gelcoat. I could name a couple of Midas owners (but I’ll spare them the blushes) whose cars I have repaired and then had the repaired panel painted to match the original gelcoat. You wouldn’t know that there was any difference between the painted panel and the adjacent gelcoat panels. This is because modern paint systems can be matched perfectly to any colour and a good sprayer will be able to blend the paint in at an edge - so you only need to paint a panel face and not the whole car. Unfortunately, the same colour matching technology available for paint does not exist for gelcoats.
I would suggest giving your car a good wash over to remove all the dirt and then power polishing it with Farecla cutting compound. You can hire power polishers, but they are available now for as little as £30 so well worth the investment when renovating a GRP car. You will end up spending more on foam mops and cutting compound anyway.
If the gelcoat looks bad with areas of chalking and/or scratches then I would use Farecla G6 compound. If the colour is only lightly faded I would use Farecla G3. G3 is finer than G6 so doesn’t remove so much of the surface layer, but you can be quite brave as the gelcoat applied by D&H was very generous. If necessary you can use wet and dry 400 and 600 to remove bad scratches before polishing.
I would recommend G6, over the coarser G7, as G6 breaks down with use and becomes a finer polish. So if you use G7 to get rid of the worst of the marks, you will have to wash it all off and finish off with G3 to get the shine back, whereas the G6 will do it all. With the G6 you continue polishing, adding more fresh paste until you are happy that the marks have gone, then you just continue with the G6, spraying on a little more water to keep the mop lubricated, but no more fresh paste, until the gelcoat is shiny. Once you have got as much of the original shine back as you possibly can then you can take a better judgement on how to approach the repairs and it will also be easier to match the colour.
I notice also that you are missing a headlamp shroud and a wing mirror. I have a mould for the headlamp shrouds and sell them for £22. I started to make a mould for the mirrors a few years back, but there didn't seem to be any interest from Midas owners. My idea was to get some mirror glasses cut and then mould new housings.