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I need to base my army, 35 models (3 dreadnoughts).



I have some PVA glue, regular sand (from a beach) and also some GW “basing material” which I have in a circular tub, I bought it about 15 years ago and I can only best describe as like really large grade sand.



Anyway…. I was thinking, if I mix the sand, basing stuff and PVA glue all together, and mix it all in together, then put that on top the base?



I could then paint it.



I thought about covering the base in just PVA, then dipping that into a dry mix but.. I figure if I do that, some of the top of the sand may come loose, and end up in paint brushes or contaminating the paint in the pots etc.



Or is there just an easier way of doing it?



I am not removing the bases though.

Take your pick.
Both ways are fine, although I have never mixed the sand with the glue. In 35 years I haven't found a need for anything besides put the glue down and dunk in the grit.

Lay a dark wash down once dry before painting, and it will seal the sand down for you. Dry brush your colours on top and it's done.

Base it, then water down the PVA until its milk-like in texture, then apply that on top. It will dry clear, seal the base, and you should be able to paint over it.

I'd be extra thorough when washing the brushes off though, just to be safe.

I don’t paint my gravel,

I wouldn’t mix the beach sand with Geedubs basing material,
It will act like a sieve and you’ll only get the beach sand on the bases.

I don't base with sand nowadays, but when I used to I always painted PVA onto the base, dunked in sand and let that dry, then carefully so as not to disturb the sand too much painted on a PVA/water mix to seal it. Then on with the paints, usually starting with a thin black to fill in all the gaps followed by progressively lighter drybrushes and then selected patches of static grass.

Nowadays I've moved on to texture paints for my base - specifically AK Interactive Diorama series. I use the Light Earth and the Light and Dry Crackle effects to create an arid earth sort of base. I do find the colours with those specific products a little lighter than I'd prefer so once it's dried I give it a watered down wash of vallejo sepia wash, and it's pretty much done. Stick some dry grass and scrub tufts on and it's finished. Much quicker and less clatty than using sand.

Of the two methods, I prefer glue->sand-->watered down glue once dry, but mixing a basing slurry works fine and is basically all that the basing pastes are (though they tend to use a higher end acrylic gel as the "glue"

You can add a bit of brown ink to the top layer of watered down glue and it'll stain the sand a darker brown at the same time, ready for drybrushjing. Saves a step.

I don’t paint my gravel,

Heathen. Unpainted sand looks dreadful, it should always be painted/washed/drybrushed etc

Yep, though I'd recommend Elmer's Wood Glue Max over normal PVA glue personally.

Put down the glue (make sure to have a decent tool or used brush on hand to massage it around the base as needed)...dunk into your mix of gravel/sand/ballast. Pull it out, shake it off, tap it down with a finger - run a finger around the edge of the base to grab any loose bits that'll catch and snag. Then either seal it with watered down glue, or if you dip --- that's all you need.

PS: I will agree that unpainted sand gravel stands out quite a bit - noticeably so on most miniatures. Certain flock and pre-coloured ballast (the type you get from Woodland Scenics) is often okay though. Woodland Scenics offers ballast in numerous sizes which is nice - makes it easy to get a good mixture with the right ratio.

It may be wrong but it’s not sand/ gravel, it’s kind of grey and smells like concrete

Save yourself time and aggro- mix sand, filler (spackle) PVA together to create a texture paste- and daub that on your base. Ideally before you prime your minis, if not then wait till the paste is dry and hit with brown, drybrush up and flock to taste

Thanks for the replies guys.

The stuff I got from GW is modelling gravel, and comes in a tub like the below:



Its not actually as larger gauge as I remember but it is certainly bigger than sand.

I did think about painting my bases with a browny/yellow desert colour, then putting tufts of vegetation (a little like you would see out in Nevada or New Mexico) but...

I am probably just going to go boring and black wash, and then greys to drybrush.

EDIT: Actually sratch that, I probably will try and paint it arid/desert coloured, I just ordered some autmn coloured 2mm tufts that look a little like the bushes/scrub you see in arid areas.

Something I learned recently (from Luke Towan's youtube channel if memory serves), is to use plaster to make rocks. Basically you pour some plaster on a sheet covered with foil/plastic wrap, let it dry, then break it up. Then you put in in a tupperware and shake it a little (to break it down a little bit more, and round off the edges slightly). With different water to plaster ratios you get thicker or thinner rocks, and can make a ton of good looking rocks very quickly, and it costs close to nothing.

As for coarse sand, I use aquarium sand, found in a pet shop. It's the only way I found to buy small quantities (hardware stores only sell >10kg bags…).

For basing I go very simple: Just cover the base with a layer of PVA glue. Not too much but not too thin either. Then sprinkle on some sand. Ideally some mixed aggregate (I recommend construction sand, this comes in 10kg sacks and costs just as much as a 100g tub of GW stuff). Clean up the edge with your finger and give it ample time to dry (a few hours). When dry, I use my "dusting-off-brush" to flick off excess sand and loose grains.

Now you have the choice. If you ABSOLUTELY want to make sure nothing comes off, you can apply a thin layer of watered down PVA glue and let that dry. However, I find a layer of basecoat paint is more than enough to seal in the grains.

Then paint to your hearts content. Drybrush or stippling techniques work very well here.

Just my two cents, have fun painting!

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Base it, then water down the PVA until its milk-like in texture, then apply that on top. It will dry clear, seal the base, and you should be able to paint over it.

I'd be extra thorough when washing the brushes off though, just to be safe.

That's how I do most of my bases.

You don't even had to paint it for desert terrain.

Yea true, may not even need to paint it.

I normally PVA, apply a mix of playpit sand (fine grade) and fullers earth cat litter, then apply dilute PVA with a spot of dish soap* on top of that. This is then painted various colours - usually 3 tones of drybrushing before tufts etc. Sometimes I'll wash areas before the final drybrush if I want some variation in hue across the base. The last drybrush being the same unifies things and gets it looking natural.

*: It's actually 'wet water' - just water with a dash of soap to break the surface tension. Incredibly useful stuff to have to hand I keep it in a squeezy bottle. The reduced tension causes the thinned glue to get under and between the grains - this preserves the texture and massively improves durability, especially on the cat litter where the glue MUST be soaked in to the lumps in order to harden them before painting.

I've recently been rebasing Plaguebearers using my new conversion rings, and for that a slurry was needed to fill the gap between the held base and the conversion ring. That was a mix of sand, PVA and brown paint. Consistency of a thick milkshake or slightly melty ice cream.

I just PVA around the models feet on the base before priming.
Slap on bird cage sand.
Leave it to dry and brush any loose bits off.
Prime it to help seal the sand on.
Then paint.

I have a bottle full of ultra-fine silica sand, and some gravelly/grouty stuff I picked off the side of a dirt road.

What I do is mix PVA with water (so it is milky but not too thin) and put it on the base, sprinkle sand over the top and then drip more on with a clapped out brush.

I then wait for it to dry before I paint it with an Enamel based paint(ancient Humbrol tins), this seals the sand and PVA and avoids contaminating my good brushes. I put washes of GW water based paints over the top, becasue they mix nicer.


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The Enamel paint acts as a primer, sealer and waterproofer which soaks into the dry ground. Its super easy.


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Obviously you super glue bigger rocks and pieces of debris before this process because no amount of PVA is going to hold it down..


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To clarify this is oil based humbrol enamel.