Smoothing edges of laser cut plywood bases?

[Glyn Green]

I base my epic armies on laser cut ply bases from Fenris Games, I care a lot about the detail and finish of my models and don't use them to be cheap, but because they have a very wide selection of base shapes and sizes (I use dozens of different ones) and will custom make ones.

The bases are precisely cut vertically with the laser but have a slightly rough edge around the circumference. What would be the best way to make this completely smooth?

I wonder whether coat(s) of some kind of varnish could do it? Maybe liquid greenstuff or similar? (I don't currently have either but would hapilly pick some up). If I could fix it up by putting a coat or few on the edge that would be great, but I'll use extremely fine sand paper too if I have to. I thought I'd try asking here as others have probably dealt with this or similar.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Is it plywood or thin MDF?
There's a difference in the treatment; for plywood a jar of Sanding Sealer will be you friend, paint on, allow to dry and fine sand for smooth finish then paint/varnish to choice. You may need a couple of runs of this of course.
MDF is far more porous and soaks up some liquids like the Sahara does water, my suggestion is to seal with PVA glue then when dry (24Hrs) sand away to suite.

 

[Glyn Green]

I checked their website and it says they're made of something called 'aeroply'. I guess that's a kind of plywood? Looked side on it's made of 3 layers that are glued or otherwise attached together.

Here's a photo of some of the bases from their website:

Based on that you would recommend 'sanding sealer' and then fine sandpaper? (I picked up some 1500 grit earlier) Any particular brand sanding sealer I should go to for the best quality finish?

 

[Humanitarian]

Assuming that you are going to base on top of them, I'd recommend either Zinsser BIN primer or Zinsser clear BIN synthetic shellac sealer. They tend to do a good job keeping wood oils and ply glues in, and are based on shellac, which most paints and materials will stick to. Regardless, if you can't find those, what you want is a dewaxed shellac sealer of some type -- waxed sealers could lead to issues with any basing that you may put on top.

What I would likely do (and I would be building up a base on them) is scuff-sand them with about 220 grit, remove the dust with tack cloth, prime it with the Zinsser BIN, and if there were something I really didn't like, sand/tack/prime again using a finer sandpaper (maybe 400 grit).

Hope this helps!