Decorative sand and grass

[Rurouni Benshin]

Hey guys,

Question on how to decorate the base of a mini with sand, grass, etc...

Is there a glue that works better with applying said materials, or can it be just any kind (ie - Elmer's) I'm trying to conserve the GW brand super glue I have, and was wondering what you all thought.

Also, what would be the best method of applying the sand?  I've heard using shoe boxes, and just sprinkling them on top of the mini's, after having put some glue on the base works.  Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Also, how would I apply both sand and grass to a base?  Should I start with the sand first, and then go to grass after the sand has dried on?

Thanks ahead of time, guys!
~Ben

[jhobin]

For sand and grass elmer's works, the best in my opinion is wood glue, little bit stronger of a consistancy. If your trying this for the first time use Elmer's

There are a couple of good ways to get the sand on the base any container will do, I have a cookie tin for big stuff and a small canister for infantry bases.

What works best for me is;

-Finish assembling the model
-Put elmer's or wood glue on base
-cover base in sand, (flip the base over the canister your using get the excess of and use for later  ) and get excess off the rim of the base.
-Prime (main reason is the primer locks the sand in place coupled with the elmer's or wood glue it will rarely come off!)
*Let glue completely dry (I usually wait 24hrs)*
-Paint
-Seal (if you do it!)
-Then apply static grass

I also make sure with model's that use slotta bases I cut a little square of paper to size to cover the gap between the model and the base, before putting sand on the base (if you do this make sure to let this completely dry or the little piece of paper could shift)

If you need any help with this I can show you, I'm usually at the store on Mondays

[Rurouni Benshin]

Question about the prime and paint part.

What kind of primer do you use for the sand?  The base was already lightly coated with black "Armory" brand primer for some of my mini's.  I even painted a few of them brown already.  Would this be problematic when I try to apply the sand and grass later?

And then after the glue's dried, you're saying that I should paint over the sand again?  Maybe for future mini's, I won't paint before applying the sand next time.

Thanks a lot for your help!  I'm not around MA much anymore, and when I am it's usually on weekends, but I appreciate the offer for help.  I'll be sure to let you know though if I am around BG.

Thanks again!

[jhobin]

I usually prime the mini and the sand at the same time I use krylon or Armoury primer. It's not needed to prime the sand. I've seen a couple of times with my older mini's were I didn't do this that sand can fall off in patch's if dropped (by accident!) its fixable.

putting sand over an already painted base causes no problems what so ever

If you wanted to you could get some paint on primer, water it down a bit and apply to the sand on mini's already painted. I use vallejo's paint on primer I think GW makes one as well.

what do you mean by "And then after the glue's dried, you're saying that I should paint over the sand again?" I would let the glue dry, prime (let that dry to!), and then paint the sand. Does that answer your question?

[Rurouni Benshin]

Yes, that does answer my question.  You're saying that I should prime the sand once it's been glued on, and then paint it after it's dried, INSTEAD of just leaving it be.  I was under the impression that the sand itself had a pretty good color to it, but I guess I can wait and see once I've gotten that far.

Thanks a lot!