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Hi all
I am making a little 4x4 gaming board and have a question for the procurement specialists
I am wondering how and/where to get modelling grit (1-4mm) in large amounts for cheap?
Far bases I just use Secret Weapon’s little pots of grit but they will get very expensive very fast when trying to cover a large area. I have plenty of sand but wondered what to do for the larger grains.
Cheers Vim

i sourced about 50lbs of grout mixture that works great for basing, it should be fairly cheap to come by.

you could also go to the local sand box, get yourself a couple of pails of sand and then sift it through a cheese cloth or fine colander to get the finer grains.

If you were in the US, I would say Scenic Express. They sell big buckets of ballast for cheap that is graded for model railroaders. I cant think of a European equivilent, and shipping would likely kill the savings.

Granted even within the EU, shipping on a gallon or two container of anything will likely not be cheap. Check around locally to see what is available from building supply houses and industrial supplies.

You can often find cheap sources of sand for grout and cement mixes, as well as things like crushed granite for landscaping. Ground up walnut shells are used for some sand blasting, and that provides an interesting texture as well as being much lighter than sand. Ground cork is used for a lot of model railroaders, non magnetic and nonconductive, so it doesnt interfere with the electronics. Often you can buy that in large buckets for cheap.

Because of the shipping issue on bulk items though...I would check locally first for large amounts of stuff, then if you cant find anything...try using Google to track down an industrial supplier or hit the online model railroad stores to see if they have ballast in bulk.

Great advice guys. I went down to a modelling supply store this lunchtime and all they had were little bags of cork ballast at 7-8 euro a pop. The grouting sand route is sounding the most promising right now as there are not really any sand pits around here.
Thanks for the tips

Argos sells bigs bags of sand for about £4 each.

Another option that hasn't been mentioned, yet - kitty litter. Coarser than most sand, finer than aquarium gravel, and not particularly expensive. If you're at a pet store, you may also find ground walnut shells there (in smaller quantities than a 50lb. bag for sandblasting).

Also, how coarse is your sand? Depending on the stores you have nearby (assuming an inability to scavenge them), you may be able to find two or three grades without too much difficulty. Sand for floral arrangements or sand art is typically very fine - almost feels like baking soda. Next is play sand, which is pretty fine, but more distinctly granular. Construction-grade mixes are coarser, still, and some may even include fine gravel. You won't likely find anything larger than 1mm in a bag of sand, but you can definitely find what's needed for typical ground cover, ranging from soil to medium-coarse gravel (like a gravel driveway), at scale.