Questions on painting old cabinet

[Dougmeister]

Old Space Duel cabinet.  Artwork is damaged and wife says it's ugly and won't let me bring it in the house 'til it's painted.

S-o-o-o-o-o...

What steps do I take?  Since it's not MDF (right?) I only have to prime 1x?  Have a bunch of leftover primer so I'm gonna use it instead of buying tinted.

Probably gonna go for a simple black paint job.  What kind of paint do I want?  Spray paint? What brand?  Enamel?

How many coats?  Do I need to sand in-between?

[pointdablame]

Prime it well, you should only need one coat. MDF likes to soak up paint though, so just make sure you get good coverage.

Don't use spraypaint... it will look terrible. If you have a GOOD paint gun then spraying is an option, otherwise steer clear.  Sand between every coat (primer and paint).  Brand doesn't matter particularly, just pick if you want flat, semi, gloss, etc.  That should be it, make sure you get a good foam roller made for smooth surfaces.  I've even seen one that advertises "extra" smooth surfaces, but that is probably just marketing.

Good luck

[Dougmeister]

Ok, thanks.

Followup q's:

1) How many coats?
2) Each coat = primer + paint?
3) What type of sandpaper?  Fine?  Coarse?

[danny_galaga]

you can still have tinted primer. just nip down to the paint/hardware shop and buy/scrounge some!! nothing magic about it. i used to work in a harware store. the same tint is normally used in both acrylic and enamel, primer or paint. but if you're painting it black then it wont really matter anyway.
id agree with pointdablame. forget spraying. use a really fine foam roller for both primer and top coats. i used one coat of primer and two of black acrylic gloss:

http://moncom.net/mame/

i was a bit lazy and only sanded lightly with a medium grade on the bits i pre-primed- edges and corners etc