When I got the car it was covered in micro blisters but no sign of large blisters as I have now and it appeared to have been rubbed down and painted before and it got a very good cleaning before the primer!

When you say you can see the fibreglass, is that the gelcoat or the matting Do the blisters have fluid in them

Tim, The blisters are dry and i think its the matting as this car has very little gelcoat (all,the red was paint), having been rubbed down and painted so many times in its life!

Alex,
The blisters are dry which is good, i was trying to out find if the gel and matting are parting company or as John suggested there is a paint reaction going on. I have to take my daily drive to my local bodyshop shortly, he does a reasonable number of kit cars and bodywork for some race cars (regularly ) so has some fibreglass experience. Maybe he'l have some thoughts.

I had an informative chat with Chris (my local bodywork guru ) today regarding fibreglass, paint etc. When he paints old fibreglass of unknown paint history the first coat is a sealer (not primer sealer) this is NOT rubbed down before applying a suitable primer as that would affect the integrity enableing old paint to bleed through and possibly react Once the topcoat has been applied water should'nt be able to creep into the fibreglass, but apparently its not unknown for moisture either from the atmosphere, rain in wheelarches etc to be absorbed through the the underside of some older fibreglass with unpleasant results
No two pack should have been produced after the end of 06, its still possible to get bits from here and there, hardener is getting in very short supply. Not all countries opted out of using two pack, Australia being one (i'm sure there others nearer) but if you're caught importing it its almost as bad as being a drug runner He seemed to think there is a range of commercial vehicle paints (Du Pont ) thats quite similar to the old two pack, not quite as tough though.
The above is not cast in stone, its just what works for him

My local supplier is getting fresh deliveries of 2 pack paint on a regular basis and expects to be doing so for some time to come. Is it all old stock?

John, i would assume so, Chris buys his paint from Movac, they told him awhile ago that they would'nt be getting any more hardener, then they had another pallet delivered, someone bought half of that immediately, so who knows. It would'nt hurt to ask your supplier. I think it would be wise to stock up just to be sure

ps, we are both talking about the paint that contains isocyanates i presume

Yes.

I'm surprised at this because currently even water based paint still needs a 2 pack lacquer over it to protect it, and water based primers are still not good on steel as it causes rust.

I presume the lacquer used over water based paints does'nt contain isocyanates, i'll quizz him further when i see him at the end of next week

Had another word today, isocyanates are'nt the problem, in fact they are probably in the latest type paint mix's. Its the solvents in the thinners (does'nt matter if the sprayman dies due to the arsnic ) Basically they are trying to eliminate most thinners, hence water based paints, they can't make water based lacquer yet but they're not diluted (high solids, one dust coat then main thick coat as opposed to three coats of lacquer over the old 2pack) Its a total minefield with Defra (Deathreat ) the driving force

Does anyone know the paint code that is the closest match to the original red? I know i'm very boring sticking with red.