Customising MDF

MDF kits can be a great way to make lightweight and effective terrain for tabletop gaming. They can, of course, be built 'as is' straight from the kit, but there's also an opportunity to 'tart' the kits up and do some conversion. This can not only be a fun exercise but can make the finished models unique.

My aim was to take a standard kit from Sarissa Precision (the Mediterranean terrace house with pitched roof) and convert it into a more African city-style house, complete with a corrugated iron roof. 

This blog was inspired by the modelling articles of Joe Bilton and Tony Harwood which have appeared in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. They take a model that starts out as quite ordinary and then transform it into something very cool. 

My aim is to convert it into a battle-damaged house, based on buildings from Mogadishu. I decided to start with a single story, as Sarissa sells roof sections and extra stories separately. I could always choose to add another level later.

Once I had a plan for my conversion, I started constructing the building as normal. I built the shell of the houses first. My version would have lower, square windows, the remains of shutters, battle damage, and wooden doors. I didn't want to go too extreme on the damage, just enough to show the building was past its former glory. 

My first task was to use leftover scraps of cardboard and MDF to lower the window and door frames. I added wooden struts to reinforce the door frames, as I intended to use different doors than the ones provided. Already, the building is starting to look distinct from the original: not a perfect replica of my reference photo, but close enough.

Next, I tackled the roof. While the existing one was functional, I wanted to “tart it up” a bit and add some realistic roofing material. Corrugated iron seemed the most fitting choice, so I explored several options.

My first option was corrugated card. I soon ruled that out because I was concerned it might take paint and worried about its durability. 

Next, I turned to 3D printing and tried to find some STLs that would be useful. Corrugated Iron STLs proved hard to find, but I eventually tracked down suitable candidates. The most realistic one ended up 'spaghetti-fying' my pritner, so that was no good. The next one was ok but not quite right. An also ran was an STL of a 1/32 scale carport. The winner was a simple roof from a market stall, which I could resize to my roof and then print out several. After careful measuring, I woked out it would take eight per side, so sixteen in total.  

Next, I turned my attention to the shutters. The ones included with the kit were usable, but I had to trim them down to fit the windows properly. I also added a few damaged shutters to enhance the battle-worn look — a quick and fun conversion using a sharp knife and a touch of plastic filler. My goal? To make each window look unique.

Now, with my sixteen fresh panels printed out, I completed the work on the roofing

The roof looks great once covered in corrugated iron. I took care to measure the roof’s length precisely so the printed tiles would align correctly. They went on fairly evenly — and where they didn’t, the slight imperfections actually look natural and add character.

The final step is to add “battle damage” to the front of the building. Since cardboard and MDF can be brittle or prone to shearing, I applied a layer of PVA glue to help harden the structure. In a future blog, I’ll walk through how I created the battle-damaged look and painted the building to bring it to life.