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So I'm all ready to do basing and stuff until I realized that I don't have of the gravel/sand that is so commonly used. I go to my FLGS to see if they have any specifically made for modeling, but they don't. They have grass, burnt grass, dead grass, dry grass and even snow, but nothing to use for gravel. I had always assumed that plastic bits were used for this, but after thinking about it would any sand/gravel do?

What should I do? What do you do? ._.

I usually use sand from this giant bag I got from vacation once. I lump it up with glue, than paint it.

I get my sand from the local playground. I sift out all the really large pices, but a small pail of it has lasted me a long time and it was free.

I bought a 50lb bag of play sand from lowes for like $3.50. I just take a hand full and then mix with a little bit of dirt in a cup to get different sizes then i put superglue on the base and dunk it into the sand/dirt mixture looks pretty good

Modelling sand tends to work best since I think it was made for the scale of the miniatures, but if you don't have any then use this method:

1) Go outside.
2) There's bound to be some sort of sediment or some such on the ground. Color doesn't matter since you're going to be painting over it anyways. Pick it up.
3) ????????????
4) Profit!

Sugar.

Water down some elmers glue, about 50/50 and apply thinly to the base (youll still want to see the base somewhat)
Then apply the sugar, and shake of the extra. Let it all dry for about 10 minutes or so. If the mini is OFF the base, then spray paint the base and your set. If the mini is ON the base, then take more of your 50/50 glue on top of the sugar after about 20 minutes of wait time. After that you can brush paint as normal.

PROFIT!! I love that step! I went to my local rock supply store got a free sample. Just be sure that said free sand is not for sand blasting, that gak is tiny!