Painting MDF question

[beefcake]

I bought some nice MDF terrain stuff from TTCombat lately and don't want to warp, destroy or wreck it in any way and am keen to hear what others do for prepping and painting MDF terrain.
Are enamel paints better to use than acrylic? (I'm willing to buy a small set of enamels for this even though I usually use acrylic)
I know when spraying that many small coats are the way to go otherwise it soaks up too much paint.
Any advice would be greatly received.

Cheers

[jeffreythancock]

I seal MDF buildings and bases with either a spray primer or brush on gesso.  All sides and edges.  Others may use PVA glue or Modge Podge.  I find this controls warping and swelling/shrinking of MDF.

[beefcake]

Thanks

Any other advice would be appreciated also.

[Anselm van Helsing]

Never really had a problem with painting MDF, be it thin or thick. I always seal it with a primer, a couple of thin-medium coats. Normal paints and painting methods work just finely after that.

What I've found CAN warp MDF is the gluing. This is especially the problem with two-piece MDF movement trays, where you glue big/long surfaces against each other. Here, weights (books etc.) are the way to go.

Then again, gluing texture on assembled MDF never warped it. It's the thin 1-2 mm sheets that may warp because of moisture. 3-4mm thick doesn't seem to warp at all.

[MartinR]

I seal MDF with PVA, which seems to help a lot.

[Hitman]

I do the same as jefferythancock. I spray prime a couple of medium coats on all sides and edges. I then use regular acrylic paints from Michaels. I then glue the pieces together using Loctite superglue...no water in that stuff. I then coat everything with the Walmart matte coat spray paint and finish off with Testor's Dullcoat to get rid of any shine. So far no problems and I have a lot of the TTCombat and many other MDF manufacturer's buildings...including the really big buildings that TTCombat makes. I also build them so that the roofs all lift off for interior access. I also make sure that when I prime it is on non-humid days so spring and fall.

Hope this works for you too.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[beefcake]

Thanks all. You've given me enough info to confidently start on this. I primed the roof of my buildings yesterday. I'll be getting onto the rest once I get the right coloured spray for the walls.