Having built both hand-laid and chopper gun bodies, I prefer the hand-laid version. It takes a top hand with a chopper gun to get even thickness in all parts of the body, and not many manufacturers can keep a good hand on that dirty job for the years it takes to get really good at it. My Gibbon chopper gun body is well made, but the panel thickness varies all over the map. I have spots that ar 1/4" thick and some that are over 1." It makes it a bitch to mount things like taillights.

BTW, jnix . . . that's an awesome ride.