Painting MDF Castle

L

lloyd123

Guest
I have made a model castle out of Mdf and not sure the beat way to paint it.

I want it to have a brick/block effect so was thinking of painting it with a paint and sand mix and score the mortor lines in. Has anybody got any tips on what i should use for paint. I was thinking a mix of pva and sand (for texture then over paint with a coloured poster paint. Would pva take to the mdf? Can i mix a paint with the sand/pva???

Tia
Lloyd
 

colin m

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
SMF Supporter
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
8,572
Points
113
Location
Stafford, UK
First Name
Colin
Hello Lloyd,

I'm wondering if poster paint will stick (long term) to dried PVA. It sounds like it's time for a bit of an experiment. Why not mix all three (just a small amount) and see what happens ? I've only ever thinned PVA with water so there's a good chance an acrylic paint (water based) will mix in with the PVA.
I have mixed PVA with a pigment (dust like powder) and real soil to make mud, as seen below. Here, the thinned PVA, pigment (colour) and dried, sieved soil were all mixed together at the same time until I got what I wanted.

6.JPG
 
L

lloyd123

Guest
That looks great colin. I have a few paints to play with. Will the (mainly) pva take to raw mdf or do u think i would have to prime and undercoat it?
 

colin m

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
SMF Supporter
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
8,572
Points
113
Location
Stafford, UK
First Name
Colin
That looks great colin. I have a few paints to play with. Will the (mainly) pva take to raw mdf or do u think i would have to prime and undercoat it?

MDF isn't my choice of material, so I'm not the best person to answer this, but I would be concerned about the MDF warping. So I think, it needs to be sealed first. Having said that, (well, typed) diluted PVA is a good way of sealing the MDF.
 
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
1,417
Points
113
First Name
colin
Hi Lloyd welcome to the forum
I have used PVA to seal MDF before not only on 10mm+ thick sheets so not sure if thinner sheets would warp.
The other problem with PVA is that some water based paints will not cover it very well.
 

dave

SMF Supporter
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
1,918
Points
113
Location
Brussels
First Name
Dave
I built a modular MDF castle for my son years ago. It was sealed with a 50:50 PVA:water mix. As it was a toy I just painted with a stone effect spray paint.

For scoring in blocks I would use powdered filler mixed with paint, water and some PVA to help adhesion.
 

Ian M

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
SMF Supporter
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Messages
19,584
Points
113
Location
Falster, Denmark
First Name
Ian
I make my bases from MDF as I can get off-cuts at the local stores.
PVA and acrylic paints do mix and do stick well to it. You can add sand to the mix. so go for it.
As for the lines between the stones.... Cut thin strips of masking tape. paint over them and peel them off right away....(otherwise you'll never get them off lol )
 
Top