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I bought some scorched grass today and I went online to learn how to base my models and the GW tutorials all say you need modeling sand... I only bought scorched grass and I can't get back to the store for two weeks, I have lots of paints and I was wondering if I could just paint the base and add patches of grass without putting sand on first. Does this work? Or should I just wait until I get back to the store to get some sand? I want to have a foresty base for my beastmen...

-Update-

I tried using red tea mixed with some greeish yellow tea and it works great for a forested area and It might work for a desert or plains...however i don't recommend putting grass on after because it ends up looking like a total mess. I don't know fi it is just me being a newbie at basing or if this just won't work, The tea makes it look like a forest floor covered with bark, dirt, and leaves... grass just doesn't look right on top of this... I am going to try crushing up the tea to make it finer and try again for a plains look but just out of the bag the tea and grass dont mix

Use a tea bag or ground filter coffee
Prime and paint

Edit: Take the tea out of the tea bag first of course.
Otherwise it will look silly

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Use a tea bag or ground filter coffee
Prime and paint

Edit: Take the tea out of the tea bag first of course.
Otherwise it will look silly

Haha thanks I'll try that btw do I use a used, dried teabag or a new one?... also I just found a bag of real sand I was going to use in my lizard tank but had lost and its been sitting in my garage for like 4 months, would this work?

Would use a new tea bag
Sand would work too, thought never used it myself so might also be worth painting.

Actually, if you are wanting a sand effect then use the sand instaed of tea. I use the tea as a substitute for scatter grass sometimes.

BTW get scatter grass/basing stuff from the model shops and model railway shops, In the UK one of those £6 pots from GW can be had for under £2, is in a bag is all.
I use humous/dip pots to store it in.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Would use a new tea bag
Sand would work too, thought never used it myself so might also be worth painting.

Actually, if you are wanting a sand effect then use the sand instaed of tea. I use the tea as a substitute for scatter grass sometimes.

BTW get scatter grass/basing stuff from the model shops and model railway shops, In the UK one of those £6 pots from GW can be had for under £2, is in a bag is all.
I use humous/dip pots to store it in.

Ok I have a few extra models so I'll probalby experiment a bit with the sand and the tea thanks for the advice

The tea is a great idea but seriously who sits there having a cuppa and goes, "you know what this would be good for?"
I would heartily advise you not to purchase your basing sand from GW, or even at a railway store up to you but here's some help I hope.
This is GW modeling gravel. 8 USD when I bought it at least 2 years ago. 120g. ignore the ground up sprue...This product is real sand

This is Woodland Scenics medium ballast. 12 USD about a year ago. It comes in a very large spice container 32oz or about 900cc or mL. This product is made from walnut shells, washed and painted.

This is playground sand. about 5 USD at home improvement stores. Sold in 50lbs bags, which if you are wondering is about 56,600cc

This is graded silica sand for construction basing, medium grade about 80 grit. 11 USD for 100 lbs bag. Again for the voluminous or metric in nature, about 113,000cc yeah I rounded.


In the UK you probably know where to find home improvement supplies better than I do. Look for places that sell pavers or cobbles, failing that concrete.
I hope that this was at least helpful for you.

I do

I had a lot of cheapo tea bags that were just too, too disgusting, and a 3'x3' board to cover with scatter grass.
Except I didn't have any scatter grass!

A bag of model railway ballast costing 80 pence has kept me going for ages.

Edited for typo

I'm an experimenter.

AustonT wrote:This is playground sand. about 5 USD at home improvement stores.

Thats what was in the bag I found... I still haven't tried it on my bases... just the tea (BTW kudos to you chibi for suggesting it , works perfectly for a forest base) I used the tea on two goblins and they look fine I think I am going to try sand on one of my messy prototype ones...If it works I'll use it on my beastmen

Tea? Now that is a good idea...

Combine the two :-). If you throw in both the tea and sand in one box, mix it up and then use it to base your models, it will look much more realistic because of the different textures and sizes.

Or mix tea and ground coffee? Stick to the drinks theme!

Frugality is the Mother of invention Imperion.
aka being a tightwad!

Why pay for something you can have for free?

If you live near a beach then you can get your sand there, if there is a construction site near then you cant borrow some of theirs... there are endless possibilities. I got mine from our household-building site (me and my dad are building a new terrace). I put it in the oven to kill any fungi and stuff that might have been in there, but i doupt there was anything. The sand works perfectly fine, and i paid 0 €!!

Yeah, my non modeling sand experiments began with my gazebo and patio project.