How to paint MDF Old West buildings

[Bellerophon]

Was wondering how folks on here had achieved those excellent "wood grain look" to their old west terrain and buildings?

In general and in specific, how do you paint these up? What color primer? What paints? Drybrush? Overbrush? Just painting straight up?

[Cory]

In addition to painting, hitting the MDF with a few passes of 60 or 80 grit sandpaper can give enough texture to drybrush.

[fred]

For ones that are staying as plain wood, I tend to just paint a few planks in slightly different shades of brown to the MDF.

If you want to colour the whole building then emulsion paint tester pots can be pretty economical. I’ve also used foam (eg from a blister pack) to apply the paint rather than a brush.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

If you want a more rustic look, take a razor saw and drag it perpendicular to the plank line.



This was painted with Vallejo Old Wood.

The planks will be individually painted/washed.

[Cat]

Yup, razor saw scraped along the mdf works wonders!

[terrement]

Depending on the look you are after, there are various sources (magazines, books, videos, YouTube, etc.) from the model railroad community.

If you are doing a newer, up and coming town, then some brighter colors are certainly not out of place.  Older, less prosperous locations will be faded and worn.  Abandoned buildings / ghost towns where there was initially a boom followed by a bust when the mines didn't do well, or the Iron Horse laid tracks for the next town over, or whatever will end up with little color and the worn wood weathered appropriately for the location.

https://www.google.com/search?q=you+tube+wheathering+MDF+buildings&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1082US1082&oq=you+tube+wheathering+MDF+buildings&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEJMTIzMjhqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Michi]

Was wondering how folks on here had achieved those excellent "wood grain look" to their old west terrain and buildings?

In general and in specific, how do you paint these up? What color primer? What paints? Drybrush? Overbrush? Just painting straight up?

I never use primers on MDF, but rather paint them with acrylics in the basic tone of the colour I want to achieve with a soft brush.

Are you asking for plain/bleached wood or painted/weathered wood?

I paint MDF buildings with a base coat colour and do a highlight with a semi-dry hard brush along the direction of the planks like that:


You can do the same with a different colour underneath (e.g. greyish brown to make it look like chipped paint):




You can also do this with brownish tones to achieve unpainted wood:


Some slight washing and a final light grey drybrush will add to the weathered look.

Mind you that plain wood will fade to grey and never stays brown or beige for a long time:

[Bellerophon]

Michi, those look dynamite! In that dance hall, was it the "painted" color, that blue-gray, that was drybrushed on, or the brown "chipped" look? Thanks

[terrement]

Michi,

Great work.

[snitcythedog]

Michi, those look dynamite! In that dance hall, was it the "painted" color, that blue-gray, that was drybrushed on, or the brown "chipped" look? Thanks

Almost looks like he sanded it down after painting.  Very nice effect either way.

[carlos marighela]

Wouldn't rubbing a wire brush along the the planks produce similar grain effects? It certainly works with balsa wood.

[Michi]

Michi, those look dynamite! In that dance hall, was it the "painted" color, that blue-gray, that was drybrushed on, or the brown "chipped" look? Thanks

Thank you!

Brownish base coat, blueish semi-drybrush, brown washing and light grey drybrush.

[Brian Smaller]

Before you assemble the building give the walls a good going over with a wire brush to put some grain into the mdf.

[EZPAINTER]

Grab yourself a eye shadow pallete in poundland or dollar tree (country dependant) and slap some on before your final varnish pass. Most "weathering pigments" are modified eye shadow so you can save a ton of money this way and it adds serious attitude. also a good neutral colour pallete will come with some grey, some brown and some beige, all of which can be layered. One of my "go to" paitning tips for people is that grey often weathers brown really well and brown weathers grey really well. I'm not sure why but my thought is that you've rarely ever seen a flagstone without some kind of brown weathering or a patch of mud without some little grey pebbles. There is just something wired in our brains that makes the association.

[SgtSlag]

I've tried spray painting MDF, and it went badly:  Rustoleum Primer + Paint.  I did some reading on the Internet, and they say that MDF needs to be coated with wood sealer, first, or the MDF material will absorb the paint creating blotchiness -- and this is what I experienced.

I've sponge brushed on wood sealer to MDF sections of building I have in my painting queue, but I have not made it back to spray paint the one's I sealed yet.  Hoping it makes a difference, because multiple coats of spray paint would require 3+ coats to get an even, non-blotchy covering, IME.  Grrr!

I play war-games with modern Army Men, and I have a number of 54mm sized, multi-story buildings to paint up so I need something faster, to get the job done.  I bought a Wagner style spray painter (no air compressor, designed to speed up house painting with latex paints) to apply the sealer, and maybe latex house paint, to lower the costs and to speed up the process.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?...  Cheers!