Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Molding Around Door at Entrance to Home

I live in a townhome. Recently I noticed that the paint on the ornate molding that surrounds the front door entranceway is cracking and pulling away from the wood. I want to repaint the molding, but I want to know how I should prep since the prep work is obviously going to be key. Since the molding has varying depths, I can't just run a sander over the molding. What is the best course of action? Should I strip the cracked paint off? What then do I do about the bare wood versus painted area because it will look horrible if I just repaint at that point. Thanks in advance for any help.

Welcome to the forums

Obviously I'm not there to look at it but generally you don't need to strip the piece of wood. Scrape all the loose paint and then use sandpaper to feather all the edges where you scaped. Then apply 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of a good quality exterior paint.

Thanks Mark. I'll try that because the amount of work it would take to strip the molding I'd be better off just replacing it all. Thanks again for your help.