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I want to just put sand on my bases and paint them all goblin green.

The best sand I’ve found so far is Brown Battlefield from Army Painter. But I’d like to buy a larger container of it.

Does anyone know of a similar product? I assume Army Painter are either buying it from an industrial supplier at great quantities as I can’t find it anywhere from the likes of Woodland Scenics who is fully expect to sell a huge 1kg container..

Depending on where you live I would take a look at the sand at natural beaches near you. The best basing sand I ever had (for my personal taste) I grabbed at the baltic sea coast. Very fine, very light beige color. Maybe you find something similar.

Pineforests are also worth taking a look because at least here they often grow on sandy earth were few other tree species thrive, so you find nice, mostly darker colored sand there

What do you mean by a bigger container? The benefits of buying basing sand products is that they have a useful mix of different particle diameters for interest. If you are not interested in that, then either the beach method, or big sacks of fine play sand might also be up your street.

You can get 20kg for about £5 in the UK. It tends to be well washed and dry extremely fine and soft, but it’s also likely to be uniform in diameter, so no variations on the base. It might also be a bit too fine. Alternatively 20kg bags of sharp building sand might be better. If you know any e in the building trade you might be able to blag a free pot to test.




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If you are not being too cheeky about it, then municipal playgrounds often have sand pits that wouldn’t miss a small pot of material.

Check if there is a model railroad store near you? They sell the same stuff we use for bases, but scaled where doing a 4x6 table full of it is the normal size.

https://allgameterrain.woodlandscenics.com

It looks like Woodland Scenics (who I get my flock from) has a line designed for gamers as well. The flock I get from them is like $15 for a near lifetime supply.

For sand and rock go to your local petsplace.

Sand for lizards and stuff is realy fine i used it on my dark eldar its very fine grain black sand.

If you get sand from nature, just make sure to put it in the oven for a bake to cleanse it. Pet store, Hobby Lobby, or ceramic supply stores.

Another thing to keep in mind is to have at least 2-3 grain size of gravel. Typical basing I either glue or pin the model to base, glue on plastic/resin/metal basing materials, use jewelry sculpting tool to add Vallejo Earth texture(add distilled H2O if necessary), while its wet I flock the gravel, then flock the fine sand on top, let dry, clean the area with soft brush, making sure it tiddy before priming.

I know we're talking tiny quantities, but:
"in the UK, it is illegal to take sand, pebbles, or other natural materials from the beach."

If your FLGS doesn't do packs, maybe try craft stores or pet shops, especially ones that sell fish supplies.

I've heard of people using tile grout for sandy textures. I haven't had an opportunity to try it myself though.

 Skinnereal wrote:
I know we're talking tiny quantities, but:
"in the UK, it is illegal to take sand, pebbles, or other natural materials from the beach."

My kids bring back more sand from the beach in their shoes on each trip, than would be required for a lifetime of base scenic use...

I use sand mix concrete or basic construction sand. Both are around 8 bucks for a40 pound bag.

The Concrete mic I've sifted some out so I've also got the concrete for a nice soil texture, sand, and gravel.

If you're going for diorama look on your bases you want a nice fine sand that you can get at a pet store.

For the classic goblin Green painted bases however, you want a nice coarse construction, play or beach sand or that will drybrush easily and read well on the tabletop.