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Hey all!

So recently I bought myself a whole bunch of laser cut MDF scenery and I was hoping for some advice on how to prepare and work with it since I don't want to go and ruin it all, should I assemble it and coat it in something to protect it, or each part before assembling it? Any advice or stuff to buy would be greatly appreciated.

I just slapped cheap painters' black acrylic on as a basecoat and painted over it as normal when I used MDF, no issues I've found yet.

I've seen both techniques used.

4grounds prepaints are done 'on the flat', and this seems to work very well.

I have a couple of MDF projects to do (cart and a minehead) and for those I intend to prime and paint them on the flat , using airbrush to gradient, then oil wash lines, then assemble and finish weathering / final paint effects by hand.

I've built and painted a lot of MDF, and my best advice to you is to seal the MDF with varnish before priming it. MDF absorbs water and swells, and spray primer has a lot of water in it.

When I primed them with spray white primer, I noticed that after a few hours, the primer would seem to disappear. As the MDF absorbed the water from the spray, the paint was absorbed into the fiber. Getting a smooth, even coat took lots of paint layers, and I was never fully satisfied with the results.

But for my next project, I sealed the MDF, once it was assembled, with varnish, especially around the cut edges, where the MDF tends to absorb moisture. After that, the MDF responds to paint just like any other material.

I can still see the difference between the first MDF kit I built and the two others that I sealed, and they were all the same kit (microart studios district 5 apartments.) The first building is slightly less detailed, and the wood is much more brittle and susceptible to damage than the sealed buildings.

I cannot stress enough the importance of sealing MDF before painting it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hey, thanks for all the replies.

I was worried about the MDF absorbing any primer I use on it, I looked around and found this which seemed like it might do the job of sealing the MDF ready for when I eventually prime it. Speaking of priming it I been recommended to use automotive primers, something like this and maybe finding a black and white can too, starting with a black and touching up with the grey and white one I think.

I'll order them soonish (just in case someone tells me something better) and post the results since it might be helpful for people in the future.

I think you are on the right track with an automotive primer or varnish. As with @Pseudonym's advice, the varnish or a lacquer or enamel based primer is NOT water-based, and that is the key.

You can seal it, but I've found that a quality thick primer coats the MDF quite well. I've painted some MDF stuff on sprue w/ Army Painter sprays with decent success.

Also easy to re-spray 4Ground stuff, which I've done several times.