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Thinking about getting some MDF terrain? It's relatively cheap and pretty detailed. But how detailed? And what about painting? Well, as I have recently discovered, MDF poses some painting challenges because it is a very porous material and tends to drink the primer/paint/glue.

Well, a company called 4Ground is offering pre-painted MDF buildings these days. They have a nice range of 15mm and 28mm buildings. For my first venture, I purchased some New France cabins (they also have slightly different New England ones).

They come on "sprues" so to speak, the piece of MDF board cut by laser to create the separate pieces and details. The smaller of the two kits I purchased amounted to this:They also come with a nice full color instruction sheet, which is pretty easy to follow:So how's it look when assembled? Here's the larger of the two kits I purchased next to some MicroArt Studios barrels and crates with a Warlord Games WW2-era German infantryman for sense of scale:These building have a reasonable amount of detail both outside and inside. Here you can see that the floors and inner walls are textured and there is even detail on the inside of the door as well as a fire place hearth:I'm pretty pleased with these cabins and I think the ~$30 retail price tag is probably worth it considering I have no painting to do. But the kits do have a couple of downsides: Not everything fit perfectly and I had to cut a few pieces to get things to go in per the instructions. That said, the parts I had to cut are not visible so no harm no foul aside from taking the extra time and effort. Also, even without sanding them the sawdust left a tickle in my throat for hours afterward so you might consider wearing a mask while assembling.

Let me know if you have any questions!

I have their WWII era apartment building, and it was a bit of a pain in the butt, but the end result was a good piece of terrain, 4Ground has awesome kits at a good price.

I want to get a few of those ... but figured I ought to start smaller.

Manchu wrote:
I want to get a few of those ... but figured I ought to start smaller.

They are cool, we've pooled a few of them together to get a nice city board going for Bolt Action.

It is nice to see another UK based company doing something this good in wargames.

I just might have to get this. 13 quid!

The 4Ground stuff looks great. The Dead Mans Hand terrain looks fantastic, but whoo! it will add up quick.

Even so, it isn't that much more expensive than some other terrain kits on the market, comes pre-pained, and has interior and exterior details.

Terrain kits like this will always eat into your wallet, hence the Po Boys Kickstarter project, I suppose.

I mean, it'll cost you hundreds to get enough buildings to do a nice table, though I can say that after painting and assembling a bunch of MDF and plywood western buildings...I would probably be very happy to pay an extra ten dollars to have it come painted!

Would their Dead Man's Hand stuff scale OK with Wild West Exodus' 35mm minis?

I'm still on the look out for decent, affordable WWX terrain...

 Alpharius wrote:
scale OK with Wild West Exodus' 35mm minis?

Probably not if the cabin is any indication. Take a look at the second-to-last pic I posted. Those MicroArt barrels and crates are allegedly 28mm but just compare how huge the crates look contrasted to the cabin porch (and 28mm German!). I would say those crates are actually better for 32+mm miniatures. But the cabin itself is spot on for 28mm. It would probably look pretty dinky next to 35mm stuff.

Here's another pic showing the scale of the barrels and crates, with a 32mm Black Scorpion pirate on the extreme left.

I'm wondering if it would be 'good enough' though...

...or if I'll be 'stuck' going with the nice looking Micro Arts WWX buildings?

I have several of the 4ground medieval and ECW buildings in my personal collection. Excellent quality and easy to build. No complaints from me - I wouldn't want to make 'em for what they cost.

Looks pretty cool and pretty reasonable prices too.

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm wondering if it would be 'good enough' though...

Sounds like a question of personal taste, which only you can answer. For me, I think these buildings are too small for WWX figures.

Now Alpharius, don't say I ain't never done nothin' for ya...



That's the AdeptiCon WWX model (lady of the night?) next to a 4Ground apartment building... She's a bit too tall...

Thanks Alf!

And yeah, not even close to working...

Bummer.

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm wondering if it would be 'good enough' though...

...or if I'll be 'stuck' going with the nice looking Micro Arts WWX buildings?

It'll probably be "good enough." Building interiors are never set up well for miniatures, being generally too small for comfort no matter what, and the only real out of scale thing would be the doors.

Edit: Yea, but look at that base the model is on. Off that base she wouldn't be that oversized even for the door.

weeble1000 wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm wondering if it would be 'good enough' though...

...or if I'll be 'stuck' going with the nice looking Micro Arts WWX buildings?

It'll probably be "good enough." Building interiors are never set up well for miniatures, being generally too small for comfort no matter what, and the only real out of scale thing would be the doors.

Edit: Yea, but look at that base the model is on. Off that base she wouldn't be that oversized even for the door.

The problem is that is the 'stock standard' WWX base. Sure Alph is free to base his models on something sensible, but he was curious to see how they stacked up next to the 4ground terrain. You're right, if he were to throw her on a Bolt Action base, or event a round lipped or beveled base and she'd be fine.

Yes exactly, it is the base, which looks about 5mm thick.

If you put the figure on a 2mm thick base her feet would be about the same level as the door sill, and she would only have to bend slightly to get in.

It could work, but it would also seem to visually represent a world gone mad, where all of a sudden the average height of everyone shot up by a foot or so!

I...can't do it...

Another option is to put all the buildings on 5mm thick base plates.