A skin-on-frame boat can be easily colored. We use iron-oxide-based pigments for this purpose, which are available in many different color shades in the range of yellow, orange, red, green, blue, brown and black. The pigments are finely powdered and also absolutely lightfast, so they do not fade over the years.
Determining the color shade
Before you varnish your skin-on-frame boat, you should determine how much pigment you have to mix into your varnish to achieve the desired shade. Do not mix too little varnish for the test, otherwise the result can differ greatly when converting to a larger amount of varnish! We recommend that you make a test with at least 100g of varnish. Also use a scale with tenths of a gram for the test.
Procedure
To ensure an even application, you should mix the pigments into the hardener of your varnish (mixing the pigments into each individual batch of varnish could otherwise lead to irregularities and ultimately to visible transitions on the boat). Mix the hardener with the pigments thoroughly until no more clumps of pigment can be seen. Now weighing your paint proportions ensures that the color will turn out consistently.
Varnishing
Another advice for varnishing: weigh several small units of varnish and hardener separately from each other. Later you only have to pour them together, mix them and you can use them instantly. Any varnish or hardener that is not needed can be tipped back into the containers at the end. It is better to prepare too many parts in case your varnish consumption is higher than expected.
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