Painting barracks and huts for a POW camp, any pointers please?

[Johnny Boy]

Having unwittingly drifted from the Home Front to Commando raids with the inspiration from Vagabonds Great Escape game and 0200 hours I invested in some Blotz and Sarissa buildings Watchtowers and fencing to make a camp to escape from or stage a rescue etc. Painting said buildings is a bit of head scratcher for me, so I was looking for tips on painting wood and what would be plausible for mainly World War Two but serviceable in other C20th arenas. Also, any tips where to find small searchlights for the towers please. Many thanks in advance Johnny Boy

[Major_Gilbear]

I would try and avoid anything too wet on the MDF, to avoid warping issues. TT Combat make some (fairly pricey) rattlecan colour sprays that are designed specifically for MDF terrain, but really any other cheap rattlecans sprays work well. Base coat in one colour of your choice, and then from a high angle with a lighter colour, and when dry give them a gentle drybrush or to two to bring out details and define edges.

For your searchlights, a cheap and easy option is to use snap/pop fasteners for clothing:



Some of these are also quite good for doing valve wheels on pipes etc too:



They are cheap, easy to buy in many sizes from eBay/Amazon/a suitable local haberdashery store, and you can add housings or fittings to them made from junk for use in many different terrain applications.

With terrain, a bit of variation on colour and adding in some nice characterful details here and there to make them look lived-in and "real" are great ways to ensure that it looks good.

[fred]

Greens and Greys will work for many military buildings.

Grey / Brown works for unpainted weathered wood.

Tester pots for domestic house paint work well for MDF - they can be spread on using foam from blister packs as a kind of dry brushing. This keeps the amount of paint on the MDF fairly low and generally preserves the etched in detail of the MDF.

[bandit86]

you can check this out too, for inspiration    https://ebobminiatures.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/the-great-escape-stalag-luft-iii/

[Johnny Boy]

Many thanks one and all and much appreciated. I really need to get started now!

[bluewillow]

Simple wood stain works on mdf

[Cat]

I went with non-descript heavily weathered.  Rattlecan basecoat with lots of dry-brushing and finger-painting on top.  These are Blotz kits, that I also use for general German barracks.

[Johnny Boy]

Simple wood stain works on mdf

once again many thanks all for your help and guidance., I didn't think of wood stain, any particular type or colours? I'm not very artistic and things never turn out as I intend so this may be a better option for me.

[Johnny Boy]

Simple wood stain works on mdf

Excellent suggestion but do you have any techniques to use it and recommendations to use Matt or Satin and a particular brand?