Frequently Asked Questions

Question What is the difference between hand laid and chopper gun fiberglass lay-up?
Answer Hand laying of pre-cut strips of fiberglass mat allows the mat to be rolled one layer at a time. This helps to insure that all the air is removed from under the new layer of mat. This also allows the layers of mat to be rolled very dry. This accomplishes two things, first if there is air between the gel coat and mat, you could easily push your finger through the finished surface. Second, when roving is shot on with a chopper gun it is varies in thickness, and also requires a lot of resin to wet out, this results in a resin rich part that is heavy and very brittle. All of the premium boat builders use only hand laid hulls, this is a proven technique that takes two to three times longer to lay up the same part as a chopper gun. At Vegas Buggies we hand lay all of our bodies, this allows the body to give a little without cracking and is superior in strength.
Question What is gel coat?
Answer Gel coat is a thicker form of resin that is colored and is applied to the mold first. Gel coat is much more expensive than laminating resin, and can be purchased with an ultra violet inhibitor, which allows the finish to retain its color and anti-chalking abilities much longer than laminating resin. Many  non-reputable manufacturers use laminating resin as the color coat, thus the finish loses its shine quickly . At Vegas Buggies we use quality gel coatings with u/v inhibitors, and all of our colors are mixed in house. We at Vegas Buggies, also spray all of our gel coat finishes to a thickness of 20-24 mils, thus, we apply approximately 3 gallons of gel coat on a short car and approximately 4 gallons on a long car. This not only makes the finish durable, but, allows the ability to sand out and polish a scratch. Most shops brush or roll on the finish to a thickness of 2-6 mils, this does not allow any thickness to be sanded or polished. Also to insure color coverage, they must use a lot of pigment, most fiberglass and gel coat manufacturers specify that no more than 2% pigment be used or the integrity of the resin could be compromised.
Question What's the difference between a super beetle and non-super beetle, and how do you tell them apart?
Answer The super beetle was introduced in 1973 and ran until the end of the beetle's production in the United States. The super beetle uses a McPherson strut front suspension that is attached to the body, thus, the front suspension is not part of the removable pan as with all previous beetles. The super beetle can easily be identified by it's curved windshield, instead of the flat windshield as with all earlier models.