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Just a quick question for all the UK based Dakkites. I'm after some sand to base my BT army with (when I painted them years ago I left the bases green - bad, I know!). I am going to use a thin layer of PVA, dip the base in sand and then when dry, paint bestial brown and drybrush bleached bone as a simple but fairly effective way of basing large amounts quickly. I have a B&Q and a Homebase nearby and was wondering what sort of sand to get? Is there a specific grade that is good for bases? And roughly how much quantity wise is needed?

well I use a Grayish sand for my bases for the inudstrial look as far as grade goes id get the thinest you can find....pva glue doesnt hold it very well so get really thin sand, than id suggest useing a wash over the sand after its tryed to pack the particles in...seems to work good for my bases. Hope that helped

A quick note on the PVA glue.

After you glue on the sand and it dries , mix a thinner batch of pva + water again. Then dip the whole base just deep enough to cover the sand part. This will give it a stronger "seal" .

I get my sand from the local playground.

Ifurita wrote:I get my sand from the local playground.

Me too , though i do a thorough job of washing them before bringing them in the house

i used stuff for in birds' cages mixed with some little stones bought from an aquarium (the thing you put fish in if you want to watch them)-store. Very cheap stuff. Glues on well with PVA.

Hi there, do you have any model railroad stores nearby? If so, they should sell little gravel containers to use for in between the train tracks. Example:
http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/images/trackcodes.jpg
They sell much smaller gravel than that though, and this is what it ends up looking like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38000891@N07/4252563380/sizes/l/

If you can't find any of the stuff I'm talking about, that's ok. Rough sand works just fine and gives the model a grittier feel. Hope that helps!

Plain old garden sand works fine.

kim wrote:i used stuff for in birds' cages mixed with some little stones bought from an aquarium (the thing you put fish in if you want to watch them)-store. Very cheap stuff. Glues on well with PVA.

Yes. I also sift it to get the really big pieces, twigs, etc out of the mix.