Can you use white emulsion to prime mdf?

Hi All,

I need to prime all my mdf panels and would like some advice please,

Because I dont want to kill the last revision of my final sim design, I need to get my
panels the final colour without any hitches.

I have plenty of white matt emulsion available and would like to know if this can be used,
then sanded before spraying my panels final colour.

I know that mdf needs to soak the primer first so that the spray will sit evenly on the
surface without penetrating through the wood.

Is this method ok to use?

Kind regards,

Alex

Alex
That is exactly what I did for my sim, and the paint hasn't peeled off yet!

Den

I just used white emusion to paint my cockpit shell - and that was on top of aluminium. i was going to spray it but the cost was ridiculous so I just used wickes finest cheapest emulsion, painted it on and although it wont pass any CAA inspections, it does the job.
Allan.

Don't stop at emulsion for the primer use it for the topcoat as well, if you don't havea spray gun, apply with a sponge roller finishing each coat with light strokes all in the same direction. Dry each thin coat with an infra red heater if you can as it hardens the paint and dries in 10 minutes. Buy the mixed emulsion from B&Q or whoever then tint it yourself to get the right shade( remember the formula for the next batch). You can overcoat emulsion when its dry with any other type of paint. Use matt as cockpits are matt painted to stop glare/reflections.Don't forget emulsion is water based so more eco friendly and if you spray it you can thin it with water and wash up with water and it's cheap. Why use anything else?You can see the result here
regards
geoff



Attachment 5910

Well I have plenty of dulux trade left, so going to use that, then going to sand it smooth. I hope that will work so that I get a good finish when it comes to spraying. I want a really good finish that doesn't cost the earth.

I will defo go the emulsion route...

Hi Alex I hope I'm not trying to teach an old dog new tricks but....
just a few tips if you are going to spray. Filter the paint (yes women's tight are good enough or buy the medium paper ones from ebay), Spray very thin coats as "dry" coats. If you apply the coats too thickly the emulsion doesn't dry underneath. Repeating myself.. it's very important to dry each coat before the next coat. It's not like spraying car paint where I believe there is some sort of chemical adhesion between the coats which are not "hard " dry. I cannot overstress the benefits of infra red drying each coat. It genuinely takes only 10 minutes between coats and hardens the emulsion. So much so that you can engrave the paint and get crisp sharp edges because the paint is hard enough. You can buy small I/R heaters relatively cheaply. Although there is less overspray then automaotive paints please wear a mask, you can't fix your lungs. I think you can see the engraving on this throttle I sprayed in emulsion.
hope this helps
geoff



Attachment 5911

Hi geoff...

Well the spray paint that I have is called 'Ice Cream' coloured Plastikote and is sold in a large spray can the ice cream colour is almost a dead match for my Cessna MIP which is like a cream colour.

My plan is to roller paint the emulsion with up and down strokes, then letting it dry, then sanding the panel down to remove blemishes, blobs, spots etc....

Then I would like to roll another coat to seal the panel, then a final sand down for smoothing.

Lastly multiple thin coats applied, building up the layers to achieve a consistant result...

I like the IR heater idea.....very clever....

All the best and thanks for the great tips and advice....

You have taught a young dog a great trick!

Zinser primer is a very good product for use with MDF/hardboard.

g.