just test fitting my nose cone to make my side panels and i knocked it while trying to clamp it to the chassis and iv scuffed the nose when it dropped to the floor. Anything i can do to get rid of the scratches? its fiber glass nose cone which is self coloured and i intend to keep the existing colour.

you could always cover it with some decals. its what i plan on doing with all my scratches when ive finished

I have done the same and it rolled on concrete so i have loads of 1/4 inch scratches.
A build vid i have suggests wet and dry starting coarse and moving up to fine then finish of with rubbing compound, polish tyo finish. It's worth a try as the only other option is spraying it.

was thinking about this the other day.

Is there no way of filling the scrtaches with gell coat and then rubbing it down?

The main thing to remember when taking out scratches is that you are removing material and therefore changing the shape and you will probably end up with a dent. As mentioned, you could paint in some gel coat first, then rub it back to the original shape.

I managed to get some scratches out of mine. 1200 - G3 - G10. Just go steady as you dont want to go through the gel coat.

If you do fill it with gel put some cellotape or similar over it as gel needs to have air excluded from it to cure/dry properly otherwise it can stay sticky for a while.

Alan B

A few pointers- remember the difference between gelcoat and flowcoat, a scratch is best opened up slightly to give the new stuff something to grab hold off, and if you wipe the "wound" with styrene it will give a better bond between the old gelcoat and the new flowcoat (chemical as opposed to mechanical bond)....

Other than that, you can do the old trick of gobbing on it and rubbing it with a cloth... works for shallow scratches. For deeper wounds you need polishing compound (or if you feeling cheap and don't want to buy something expensive- toothpaste (or metal polish if you've got some)....

Or just realise that the nose cone of a flat-fronted 7 is debris impact central and it's never going to be dint free... That's what I did after my nose cone fell forwards and got some serious gravel rash......

First off, try and get some of the gel coat used - that will really help if the scratches are deep. Clean the nose thoroughly (acetone works best). If the scratches are deep, use something like a cocktail stick to apply a small amount of gel. Allow it to cure (and shrink back) for at least 24 hours. Working with a randon orbital and a soft backing pad, work your way up through the grades of wet n dry (400, 800, 1200). This should get rid of the scratches. To finish, polish the area with a decent car polish/cutting compound. Make sure you dont stay on an area for too long or press too hard as you will burn the gel coat.

I'm forever doing this as the nose cone is so top heavy and as soon as I start hammering away...CRASH oops its fallen off again just as well I'm painting it.

[Edited on 13/4/07 by Mr Whippy]