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Okay, so...

Do you really need to buy ballast/sand? Is the GW/PP stuff any different than just going out and picking up a handful of sand or whatnot?

I realize I'm coming across harshly here, but I really want to know, as I'm new to the hobby. It would just hurt if I had to buy a handful of sand for $9, but if that's the only way to go, I'll do it.

What are cheaper alternatives? I haven't scouted my local hobby shop, so I may do that and see, but in the meantime, I'd love to hear what kind of sandy material people base their models with, and how much it costs.

Thanks!

Sand from the beach.
But I live close to one (and my 501st sm are based with genuine Geonosian sand - as the exteriors for that planet were shot nearby, all of those expansive dunes.)

Grass, flock and other ballast comes from the local model railway specialist. Why pay GW prices for grass when I can get 100g of the same grass for the same price as for 15-20g of GW stuff?

Awesome, thanks man. I'll have to check out my local Hobbytown USA, and see if there are some model train specialists around. I'm sure there are.

The crazy kind of stores that 40k compels me to enter...

Pet shop fish takn sand.

I second the model train shop idea. In the UK we have Modelzone - where you can by the Woodland Scenics Ballast in various different colours, styles and coarsenessed. A pretty decent sized bag only costs a few quid.

As a general rule, never buy ANY hobby materials from GW - they're always available cheaper elsewhere.

At Home Depot yesterday I found like a 25lb bag of "Quikrete sand", suitable for children's sandboxes and the like, for $3.

Is this suitable basing material, or must it be sterilized/non-growing (can't think of the word)?

I found some sterilized stuff at my local Michael's (US craft store) for $2.50, about double the amount you find in GW-sold packets, for about 1/4 the price, so I'll buy that if I need to, but it'd be nice to get all I need for a lifetime for $3!

I found that Michael's sells 25mm Stone pieces for mosaics which work beautifully as bases.

for my base for my gaurdsmen i use child friendly "non" stain sand, which is basically fine white sand, its very clean and easy to use, but you will need 2 coats of the stuff (for £5 for 50 liters its not that bad plus the kids love the stuff, just hide it from the cat)

I don't recommend GW's over priced basing materials, but something other than play sand/beach sand would be preferred. When working on bases, your looking to add texture for dry brushing.

Basic sand is too uniform and easily smoothed by the paint/glue used to attach it to the base. The reference to "Quikrete sand" sounds like a good place to start. Kitty Litter is also commonly used.

i use concrete flooring grout from an epoxy based kit we use at work, one of the bags of grout ripped and they were going to toss it so i kept it. i now have 20lbs of desert colored basing material and that is more than enough to last me a few lifetimes.

I do my bases by using a smear of readymixed filler out of a tube (£1.30 from supermarket), pushed around to make a tiny landscape on the base. Then into that I push small bits of rough-looking cork to simulate large rubble - I use 'cork boulders' marketed by a company called Javis. The filler holds them in place. Once dry I work out where the feet are going to go and if needed add tiny platforms with milliput to ensure the feet glue down well. Then cover 80% of the filler in pva and apply builders sand, which I have previously sieved the bigger bits out of. Then once this is dry I do the other 20% in pva and sprinkle chipped granite on. Both the cork boulders and chipped granite were picked up from model shop with a load of train scenic stuff. Think they cost me about £1.50 each and I don't see myself running out any time soon.

Reading that back gives the impression it takes me ages to get anything based. Well, it does, but I just can't help myself.

RanTheCid wrote:Kitty Litter is also commonly used.

And if your guys - how shall I put this - fail a morale check, it'll absorb any unpleasantness!

There is nothing wrong with using the play sand jumbo bag for $3.00/ If you look around at the DIY store you can find different grades of sand. It helps to have different textures to mix together for variety.

You can dye sawdust to make your own flock.