15mm Sand Effects

[Gerf]

I have been wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the best way to portray sand on small scale minis.

I have attempted to just use actual sand on the some mini bases but for such a small scale is difficult to get fine enough grains of sand, So the idea struck me to use very fine sandpaper instead (either directly or by creating an impression in green stuff/miliput)

Anyone know if this would work or any other possible solutions?

 

[darkartminiatures]

What about crushing the sand more with one of them grinders for spices. Maybe heat the sand up slightly before doing it. Dunno...really. I\'m just making it up...might work though.

 

[airhead]

you might try some of the very fine sandblasting/etching sands or something like 150 grit sandpaper (or finer).

Another option would be to use microballoons or baking soda and do a snow base, but paint it brown/yellow. At that scale, the sand would be almost textureless anyway.

 

[provoke_me]

you could always sift sand from the yard through diffrent sized sifters until you get a fine almost dust powder. but then youd need to buy sifters, so i say go with the snow thing.

 

[Wolf_Fang]

provokeme beet me too it..... and it does work lol (just use a kitchen strainer.... a plastic 1 should work)

 

[Dragonsreach]

Try Wet & dry emery paper.
It\'s finer than ordinary sandpaper and will drybrush up quite nicely.

 

[Gerf]

Cheers for the responses guys, ive tried my idea of using an impression of sandpaper in milliput for a texture, seems to have worked well but wont know till its fully dried and primed.

Will let you know how it goes.

 

[provoke_me]

dont forget to post pictures!

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Gerf
I have been wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the best way to portray sand on small scale minis.

I have attempted to just use actual sand on the some mini bases but for such a small scale is difficult to get fine enough grains of sand...

If you take builder\'s sand and sift it you get quite an astonishing range of grains sizes! I did this years ago to make my supply up (still using the same batch) and I got three grades of sand from it, with tiny pebbles as well so technically I got four grades. The problem when you get really fine is finding something to filter with, a doubled layer of stocking works really well if you can get your hands on any!

Originally posted by Gerf
So the idea struck me to use very fine sandpaper instead...

You can do this but it\'s a bit limiting since it has to be flat. You can simulate a sand texture by just stippling putty with a fine bristle brush but the texture\'s not quite right so if you\'re fussy sprinking something on, as you would with a 28mm, is the way to go.

Einion

 

[Gerf]

Just an update for you all, after several experiments (not all of them successful) I seem to have found some acceptable solutions to my problem.

15mm Sand : For the best effect I found that as Einion suggested the fine grains filterd from building sand worked best with the materials i had available. I used an old tea strainer which had a fine mesh, but possibly could so with something with an even smaller mesh.

15mm Sandstone : The best found for this was to cover the surface that was to be sandstone with a putty (I used milliput)and then stipple the surface with a fine sandpaper to give a slight texture.

Apologies for no pictures at this time but I have found my camera is not a good enough resolution to pick out any detail on the minis (Its only a camera on my phone) Hoping to borrow a friends camera in a week or so time so will put shots up then

 

[Klute]

Sodium Bicarbonate.
I mix it with paint for sand and pva for snow.Its very fine and would be good for 15mm.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Gerf
I used an old tea strainer which had a fine mesh, but possibly could so with something with an even smaller mesh.

Yeah, I had one of these at the time I did mine which gave me the grade just above \'dust\'. I didn\'t mention it because not a lot of people seem to have them any more!

Einion

 

[Verm1s]

I had thought of spraying my Epic stands with citadel roughcoat. If that\'s of any help or interest.

 

[Gerf]

Originally posted by Verm1s
I had thought of spraying my Epic stands with citadel roughcoat. If that\'s of any help or interest.

to be honest ive never heard of it :S

 

[Verm1s]

Not surprising. I can\'t find anything about it on GW UK. Here\'s something at the Wargame Store, although it doesn\'t show you the effect it creates. I can\'t find any pics that show it.

 

[Orb]

Agree with Klute on this; scale wise even fine emery paper is probably still overscale for sand at 15mm. And at this scale you wouldn\'t be able to make out an individual grain of sand - the bicarbonate of soda would be perfect - just enough texture to work