Each hood is varnished twice during the paint process. Each time it is varnished I apply 3 coats and leave it for several hours to cure.
The first time it is varnished is typically after the base colour. This is to protect the base colour as I apply the details such as shark jaws or text. The second and often final varnishing will happen at the end of the painting process. If the hood has a complex design I may apply more varnish during the painting to protect the previous layers of paint as I work. The varnish used is a Satin finish Lacquer.
The first time it is varnished is typically after the base colour. This is to protect the base colour as I apply the details such as shark jaws or text. The second and often final varnishing will happen at the end of the painting process. If the hood has a complex design I may apply more varnish during the painting to protect the previous layers of paint as I work. The varnish used is a Satin finish Lacquer.
The first test I wanted to do was trying to scratch the hood with the Velcro from a camera bag divider, there is a chance the hood could rub against them in a camera bag. The hood showed no sign of scratching from this.
The second test was to try and scratch the hood with a lens cap. There is a chance the hood could come into contact with objects like these in a camera bag. The hood wasn't affected by this either.
I then tried dropping the hood, this resulted in a few small scratches in the varnish and some minor ones in the paint finish along the edge of the hood where it hit the ground.
I rolled the hood to try and scratch down to the paint. This resulted in some more small scratches to the varnish and some small scratches to the paint exposing the black hood beneath.
The final scratch test was to press it into the paving slab and drag it backwards. I expected this to scratch down to the plastic of the hood and it did. There are several scratches made, some in the varnish and some in the paint beneath.
I then wanted to test how the hood would react to water, as it not uncommon to see rain at an airshow or out spotting. To test this I fully submerged the hood in water. This didn't affect the hood in any way. I stopped to check the hood after 6 hours as the test was only intended to be 6 hours. As there was no change I decided to leave it for another 18 hours.