MDF 'Bleeding' Colour

[Jagannath]

Hiya Folks,

Ages ago I bought a nice winter mat off Deepcut Studio (I think it was a black friday discount), and i thought it might be find to start working on some 6mm forces with snow basing. So far, so boring.

I swear by bases from Warbases with magnet holes (I'm a magnet basing fiend) but I've discovered that they 'bleed' colour into the white bases particularly the filler I use first.

Has anyone else encountered this, or know how to deal with it? Presumably I could seal the bases before doing anything else, but I found the colour bleed went through a few layers of paint, so I'm not confident this will work....


Any thoughts appreciated.

Edit: Don't have any proper pics but here's an instagram post with them:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgbCkm0j2eh/?taken-by=bladesandblastersminis

[audrey]

A few questions, did you prime the bases first? Did you paint over the primer with white (if you did prime) before the snow flock? I am guessing when you say "bleed color" you mean the brown of the mdf base is bleeding into the filler or snow?

I work a print shop and to keep tie dye shirts from bleeding into the print we first put down a black layer and then print on top of that. It keeps the dye from bleeding through in the final print. I know painting base is different than printing t-shirts but I'd experiment with different colored primers and even brands. Another option would be to try a different filler. That may be causing the bases to bleed.

-A

[Jagannath]

Thanks,

No I didn’t - and I suspected that might be the problem, the only concern was that even after painting and filler, there’s still ‘bleed’ which makes me wonder if primer would be enough to solve it. I use a cheapo version of Polyfill, I wonder do the water content in the filler is an issue. I’m Not even entirely sure what it is that’s bleeding - I think it’s the colour from the edges, so some sort of resin left over from the laser cutting?

[Andy in Germany]

MDF is a form of fibreboard, in a way it's very thick cardboard, and it absorbs liquid like a sponge. In my days in a carpenters shop I often had to repeatedly sand and repaint before it stopped being troublesome.

Keep priming and sanding a few times, or alternatively there is paint that is made for painting porous surfaces which is a bit thicker.

[Argonor]

Would a layer of gloss varnish prevent the problem (on the base before flocking/painting/whatever)?

[Andy in Germany]

Possibly, but the MDF absorbs anything that is sprayed on it. For a flat finish you'd need to sand it and spray several times whatever you use.

[Jagannath]

Ah I see what you mean - the absorbency means that the problematic ‘colour’ remains near the surface. I don’t get this problem with my sand basing, presumably it’s there but super mild and not noticeable on the warm colour. White is just very sensitive.

Anyone know of anywhere that sells 2mm custome plastic bases?!