The introduction of MDF model buildings into our hobby has been one of the great innovations in wargaming. I remember travelling down to deepest darkest Wiltshire about ten years ago to take a tour of 4Ground’s laser cutting facility and see what all the Medium Density Fibre fuss was about. I was mightily impressed. At that time 4Ground were the undisputed kings of MDF in our hobby and their rise to fame was meteoric - do you remember their giant stands at Salute? While they rode the crest of the wave of one new area of technology, they came a cropper with another - their foray into 3D printing which, coupled with a failed Kickstarter, ‘did’ for them. Although you can still buy 4Ground buildings via Tyme Again (4Ground’s historical toy-making parent company) they are no longer the force they were in our hobby. The new kid on the block (about eight years ago, that is) was Sarissa Precision. Not only did they steal 4Ground’s laser-cutting crown, but they have also gone on to enhance the technology, producing more intricate designs, and introduce colour into the process. One of the forces behind Sarissa’s steady march to success is Gary Faulkner. Gary does most of the technical design work for Sarissa and he paints the prototype finished buildings to such a high standard that he has wargamers slavering at the mouth to get hold of them. A couple of years ago Gary produced ‘A Guide to Making and Painting Laser Cut MDF Model Kits’ for Sarissa, a 148-page guide to… doing what it says on the cover. I thought the guide was great, but I also thought MDF enthusiasts would benefit from a shorter, cheaper version of the guide. So, I asked Gary if we could take his guide, cut it down in size (72 pages to be exact), slash the price, and put it on sale as a ‘Bookazine’* in WHSmith and via the Wi website. Hey presto - ‘Modelling with MDF kits - A Basic Guide’ was born and has become this year's Wargames Illustrated’s ‘special’. Over recent years we have also produced painting guides, modelling guides and a ‘Great Wargames’ bookazine* as specials. Gary’s inside knowledge on producing MDF kits and painting them to look absolutely superb on the tabletop is indispensable for any MDF modeller, and I hope our ‘Basic Guide’ will prove useful and affordable to fans of his work. It would be remiss of me not to finish with a link to our webstore,where you can buy it. *A bookazine is the rather clunky publishing industry term for something that’s somewhere between a book and a magazine. My interview with the guys from 4Ground back
