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Does anyone else have problems with the sand on their bases coming off or am I doing something wrong?

What sort of glue have you been using??

For sticking sand, flock, static grass, etc to bases you need to use PVA glue (also known as wood glue or white glue) and NOT plastic or super glue.

Tacky glue in particular has never failed me. I used to use cheap white glue but had issues with the flock pulling free after a while.

Elmer's Glue-All is awesome. Lay down what looms like too much, swish it in your basing material. If the glue looks deeper than the material, then there's enough.

PVA glue = Elmer’s glue for us Americans. The same stuff you had to buy every year in elementary school works a treat here.


Typically if you want the stuff to stay rock solid you can dilute some elmers glue (1:1) with water and brush it on top of the sand after the original glue has dried.. It wll run in the cracks and dry clear and rock solid.

Drybrush over it and you have yourself a base.

PVA glue on base, then add sand.

Once dry, paint over it with 1:1 PVA/Water.

Dullcoate when the model is finished.

I tend to use super glue for putting the base of the basing material to the base itself then PVA glue when it comes to any flock at the end. I've had PVA glue bases simply sort of peel off after a while so I felt it made a better anchor.

d-usa wrote:PVA glue on base, then add sand.

Once dry, paint over it with 1:1 PVA/Water.

Dullcoate when the model is finished.

This is 100% what you should be doing. I use Aleen's Tacky Glue which isn't full of filler like Elmers is.

i've had the same issue as not-u, with the basing material peeling away from the plastic base using pva...
superglue all the way for me...

i do use pva for any kind of flocking after the base has been painted though..
superglue has a habit of drying with a horrible crusty white, while pva dries clear...

different strokes for different folks, and a different tool for every different job...
don't be afraid to experiment and see what you like better...

cheers
jah

One trick I've used for decades is to add a drop of dishliquid to the pva/water mix.

It drops the surface tension and allows the slurry to coat as well as flow around the grains and lock it all together.

I had a similar problem with the PVA coming away from the base.

Did you paint the base before you put PVA on it? If you didn't, give the base a coat of paint and it will help your adhesion problem (it worked for me).

PVA is the way to go though (and as chromedog said, a tiny amount of washing up liquid helps).

Perhaps it's the brand of PVA being used. Elmers has tons of filler in it(which is why it's dirt cheap).

Aleens Tacky Glue doesn't use fillers, and I've never had a problem with it peeling off.

You can also flood-wash the base with the wash of your choice. It also locks the sand down and gives a very nice effect.

i dont paint watered down pva over my bases afterwards but i have a little refillable spray in which i have 20:80 pva:water and i just spray that over my bases... that way i loose less details on my bases... also works fine if you have to do terrain or anything

well.. with respect to superglue, it depends on what kind and how much.
There's essentially 3 kinds:
-super-thing: I hate useing this stuff. It has wings, and is thinner than water
-gap-filler: it's thick, it's goopy, it's what most of us are used to
-extra-goopy: haven't tried this stuff

For some reason, the GW glue is absolute trash, I've reglued the same model five times, and the glue has taken 20 minutes to even begin setting, and then, the bond isn't worth anything. I bought a new superglue, and the problem dissapeared. That left the problem of what to do with that tub of GW superglue. The answer was doing my bases, and excessive ventilation. I'm not sure of the material I use, but It's a white crystalline powder used by construction workers, probably on stucco or something.... It takes a lot of superglue, because you are essentially locking the grains into the glue for it to work. It's a waste of superglue unless that superglue is already garbage.

I don't reccomend using superglue. The way you end up having to use it to make it work, you will burn through one bottle after about 30-40 bases. If you do zero detail, you'll make it to around 50x28mm bases. Start adding rock outcrops and that number plummets. cost-wise, highly inefficient.


That said, PVA is what you ought to be using. What I've done for my basing is actually use craft-store grade paint, and slather it on. It's got the same effect of using PVA/Water to seal it, but since I'm not overly fond of using grass and use it only as a touch-up detail, i kill two birds with one stone by simple using the base-coat of paint to glue everything down. Craft store paint comes by the bucket if you go to your walmart,

I've also heard tell that Wood glue does the trick, but I've not bothered to make the trip down to anywhere in order to make the attempt.... others have tried caulk, and i think you deserve a right good smack if you feel like trying that yourself.

I like every one ells uses the good old, the stuff you used to eat as a toddler, PVA glue. The cheaper the better, if its cheep then you don't mind slapping it on like your trying to tarmac a road.

"Paint it on your base like your Jackson Pollock , pace in the basing stuff of your choosing, let dry for afew minutes, take out, knock off the excess, clean up the rim of the base with a sanding bock, then paint."
This is how I told my friend to do his Drow miniatures for D&D, he looked sceptical but once he was done said "..You know your right, it was that simple..."

I always use white wood glue personally, it holds larger stones on much better.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Snrub wrote:

For sticking sand, flock, static grass, etc to bases you need to use PVA glue (also known as wood glue or white glue) and NOT plastic or super glue.

Wood glue is often pva based, but not just pva.

I've rarely had issues with basing attached with PVA lifting (using plain old Elmer's GlueAll). When I did, I found that the grit adhered better to itself than to the plastic base, lifting off in solid chunks. Supergluing a small detail stone or two in place before applying sand/ballast with PVA acts as an anchor that locks down the relatively solid "sheet" of basing material quite well (at least, that's what my destructive testing has shown - admittedly, the sample size was rather small).

Personally, I usually don't bother with the extra step. If the base is clean enough, a moderately thick layer of PVA gets the grit to stay where I put it. Like others, I lock it down with a diluted glue mix, afterward. I like to add in a bit of craft paint in the color I plan to prime, as well, to help hit all the recesses (keeps me from having to go overly heavy with the spray).

I'm a fan of Tacky Glue as well. I've never had basing material come off on its own, and even had some trouble trying to get it off a couple times.

It sounds as though Tacky Glue is the thing to use. Are there different brands?

Just go with the one in the gold bottle. Often found near the fabric section of walmart.

Thanks for the help!

I suffer the same problem as the OP. I use PVA (White glue) from the Early Learning Centre of all things, cuz its only £1 for 6-700ml. Bigger than GW one. However, recently I have had problems with the stuff brushing off. There is absolutely no chance of painting it either, because paint and washes wash it off and drybrush scrapes it away, which.is why I love Texture paints now.