What sand to use for bases?

[Axineton]

I had some sand I got from GW last year but can’t find it and I can’t find it on their site either. It was really great stuff and quite coarse not like beach sand but I have no clue where I’d get the same sort, if anyone has any tips or links to get some similar sand can you put them in this thread please as I’m after some of the same. 

[Mazer Rackham]

Have a peek through here:

 

https://elementgames.co.uk/paints-hobby-and-scenery/paints-hobby-and-scenery-by-manufacturer/gale-force-9/gale-force-9-scenics

 

I like the GF9 stuff quite a lot.  Alternatively if you want cheap and plenty and live near a building site or merchants, you could use builders' sand, although you might want to bake it first to kill any mould spores etc.

 

MR.

[Axineton]

Aha I never thought of element at all! And yeah there’s a b&q not far from me which is a builders merchant basically. Thanks mate much appreciated.

[Spaced Hulk]

Alternatively, you can get a 15kg bag of children's play sand from Argos, for a fiver (I'm assuming you're in the UK).

[Axineton]

Nice! That’s a great idea too

[NovemberIX]

I'd also suggest checking out an Arts & Crafts store for craft/decorative sand. They're likely to have differing levels of coarseness in smaller easier to handle amounts. I'm not sure what's the UK equivalent to Michael's Arts & Crafts or Jo-Ann Fabrics & Craft, but vendors like those will have what you're looking for.

[Cleon]

From a UK point of view I find there's a decent option in Langley's (used to be Toymaster) and Hobbycraft, if you have either of those locally.

Edited December 29, 2019 by Cleon

[Axineton]

Nice. Hobbycraft about a few miles away. Never heard of Langleys 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I've used Serious Play for sand before: https://www.serious-play.co.uk/collections/sands-stones (£3 for 225g)

 

Probably the best one to look at is the coastal sand, as it's got some natural variation to it (the others are more uniform, and also coarser).

 

Having said that, it's not as cheap as going to your local builder's merchants and getting a 5+kg bag, but then ... do you need (or can you store?) a 5kg bag?

Edited December 30, 2019 by Firedrake Cordova

[Axineton]

That looks like some great options there. Cheers mate. 

[Axineton]

I ended up buying a bag of guagemaster brown ballast this morning. That should do me for a few years I reckon. 

[Son of Sacrifice]

Somebody told me that real sand is out of scale, and wargaming sand has been ground and rescaled. Any idea if that's true? I've never done sand bases.

[NovemberIX]

There is a partial truth to that statement, but like many things, it’s relative. Yes, to replicate the coarseness of average beach sand, a miniature would need a finer grain of sand (powder really) is to be inscale. While some minis companies do sell fine grain sand, so do arts and crafts stores for their more general uses, possibly even from the same source manufacturer.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

I've been using some from Greenstuffworld.com they're overseas but they shipped my orders relatively quick regardless.

[Son of Sacrifice]

I'm planning some beach bases soon. Torn between a sandy texture paint and real sand.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Somebody told me that real sand is out of scale, and wargaming sand has been ground and rescaled. Any idea if that's true? 

 

No idea if the bit about the sand being ground is true or not (I assume that it's actually "graded" [sieved] rather than being ground), but it is correct that regular sand is too large to "correctly" represent dirt on a ~28mm scale model.  Having said that, if you go to something that is in scale, it'll basically look flat and untextured, so there's a trade-off.  Personally, I like the mixed-texture sands, which are generally very fine with some coarser chunks to add variation and look a bit like stones.  The Vallejo sand texture pastes (Dark Earth/Brown Earth) are OK, although I find they are very "sticky" and need thinning, otherwise it's like trying to apply icing with a palette knife and comes out rather peaky (the sand texture is also very fine).

[MegaVolt87]

We have good beaches in OZ, got a container full of sand that has some small stone in it as well. Had the same lot for like 10+ years now.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

When I used to live in FL I would do that goto the beach and snag some sand for them. Now I live in Georgia far away from the coast I guess if I wanted to I could try using the red clay might have a neat texture to it.

[ranulf the revenant]

Baking soda and super glue is another option, very fine texture (so no scale issue) and cures rock hard. Nearly indestructible bases as a result.

[RikuEru]

Baking soda and super glue is another option, very fine texture (so no scale issue) and cures rock hard. Nearly indestructible bases as a result.

This is an old method to do snow bases.

But it is one people do not look back to fondly - and which is why I heavily advise against it.

One simple reason:

 

The mixture can get a yellow/brownish tint over time, as the glue ages.

[ranulf the revenant]

Hmmm... Yes, I don't know about that. I never saw it happening. But it would be painted anyway. And if sand turned yellow... So what? It's just a suggestion

[Marshal Vespasian]

I do vallejo Basing Paste, followed by decorative Sand Mixed with bird grit and then a bit of baking soda on top.

The basing Paste gives You your "normal earth" but ist very uniform. So the grit and decorative Sand add some larger chunks, while the very fine soda actually looks Like dust/sand at the 28mm scale.

 

The basing paste also works as the glue.

Edited January 12, 2020 by Marshal Vespasian