Building the Old West
Hang ‘em high
First up, the gallows. Probably the simplest structure to build and paint I’ll use it to test out a few ideas.
In order to make things easier on myself, I’ll going to prime the MDF while it’s still on the sprue and then build the structures as sub assemblies, then paint the individual subassemblies before getting to the final assembly.
Primed the whole thing before punching out the components. This may require a bit of sanding during the assembly stage. 
I made the stairs and stage separate assemblies to make them easier to paint. I used the gallows base as a jig to get the stage built but didn’t glue it to the base. Once the stage assembly dried I removed it from the base for the next step. 
I covered the base with Elmers glue ( a brand of PVA glue), then fitted the stage, then poured sand over the wet glue. I let it set for a minute then removed the stage. 
The stairs seemed a little more wobbly so I did glue them to the base and once the assembly dried, I added the sand in the same way as with the stage. I was worried that priming the parts before punching them out would make assembly more difficult but that didn’t seem to be the case. For kits with tighter tolerances this may be an issue. But sanding the offending parts should take care of any problems.
Catching the gallows all I can hear in my head is the song “Hang the Bastard” from ‘Cannibal the Musical’ and I laugh