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What type of glue works best for gluing rocks? Am I looking at the citadel glue for plastic models, simply super glue, or something else entirely?

Thanks in advance!

I've used PVA very successfully to stick rocks to bases.

Plastic glue will be worthless, PVA or super glue will hold small to medium sized rocks, but for anything with any size to it, or for real permanence (both PVA and super have, in time, lost adhesion in my experience) I'd suggest a 2 part epoxy, and a generous application at that.

I use "tacky glue"- Google it, it's like a fast acting PVA. Just made a bill with it where it did a great job glueing rocks to blue foam

I've always used PVA glue. Never had a problem. Are you using actual rocks or a rock substitute?

PVA. AKA Elmers glue. You can get big containers of it for cheap. Dries clear, great for attaching then sealing.

Also instead of actual rocks I'd recommend cedar bark chips. Paints up like rock but is much lighter and easier to work with.

Bark chips are great. Has the look of slabs of stone. Also consider cork. Regular old wine bottle cork. Mash it up a bit and it look a lot like rough stone.

I used bark chips here and it worked out nicely. Super dusty figures but you get the idea.


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I can't figure out how to flip it. Damn computers! They are supposed to be our faithful servents!

 Jozef Godhammer wrote:
I used bark chips here and it worked out nicely. Super dusty figures but you get the idea.
I can't figure out how to flip it. Damn computers! They are supposed to be our faithful servents!

I thought you were trying to demonstrate how well the glue works against gravity

If you're using PVA I've found that you may need to coat the rock and let it dry before you try and stick it to the base; the surface is slightly porous and will absorb the glue before it can set.

I've actually switched to using a general purpose household glue (over here the trade brand is UHU, don't know what it would be worldwide); it's fairly thick and goopy, so good for bonding the uneven surface of large basing materials.

I use used charcoal for rocks. Leave it outside for a couple days. let residual moisture kind of break up the charcoal brickets. Once dry again you can crumble it in your hand and get lot of variety of sizes and shapes.

Wear gloves. The soot will get everywhere otherwise.

My standard base treatment. I use dolamite limestone. Nothing special I just had access to the mineral and sieves. I sieved it through a mesh screen to get a larger grain. Glue it down with PVA. Add a few chunks of cork or bark. Prime it black dry brush it a middle gray. I have a big can of the paint I made so my table matches the bases. The larger particles show a lot of contrast between the primer and the dry brushing and make it look like chunky gravel. Add green static grass patches.

This is stellar. Thanks, everyone. The bark chips look like they provide the final product I'm shooting for. Thank you again for the suggestion of PVA!

I use a construction adhesive to glue the 1 1/2" to 2" rocks to the bases of my flying models (WHFB sky chariots and great eagles). It sets reasonably quickly, and grabs pretty much everything. It's also waterproof when dry.

If you want something stronger than PVA glue, consider Elmer's Wood Glue MAX (Max being the key word here). It's phenomenal, and stronger than PVA while being applied the same.

Elmers wood glue is probably a good alternative. I use that all around the house for minor repairs and it is quite strong. I haven't used it modeling though but I'm sure it would work just as well as PVA. Also that reminds me. I used elmers wood filler with good results on some objective markers. I used it to build up the base and give it some height. Then just glued, flocked, painted normally. It's a cheap and comes in big tubs.

I mix the Elmers glue with paint, slop it onto the base, drop on my rocks, gravel, grass, etc. and you have an instant base that looks great. For the big looking rocks and bases, I have sculpted in the Das Pronto material (I love this stuff) and once dry, I paint over it with a thinned coat of glue and water. This seals it to the base perfectly.

However, I am REALLY liking that bark chip look!! That looks great!!!