Textured Paint

[TankWatcher]

I read some pple's threads where they have painted the base of the tank with a textured paint to resemble sand, so that a BB is a bit more attractive.

I gave this a try, but it didn't really work. I turned the tank upside down, so I could paint the exterior surface of the tank's floor. Looking at it from that view, when the job was finished, I had a nice textured look.

Put the tank upright & what I see now is just smooth. Seems the paint I chose only shows the textured surface when viewing on the surface that you actually paint. So to have seen the texture, it would mean painting on the interior surface of the tank, which I don't think is how everyone else did it.

What's the tip? What did I do wrong?

[William Palumbo]

You did nothing wrong. The only thing that resembles sand IN the tank, is the color of the paint. Obviously whatever you use, there is always going to be a SMOOTH peice of glass over it. Only your choice of color is going to resemble sand. Some of my tanks have that, and I guess it can look "sandy" compared to a solid color. Even when I would sponge on different glazes and even airbrush in shadows...tho it looked different and cool...it never looked textured when looking into the tank...Bill

[rickztahone]

i agree that from the inside of the tank it doesn't really look "textured" but on mine it does resemble (term loosely used) the sand look. i have a picture of it but it doesn't do it justice to be honest. you didn't do anything wrong but if you would have used a solid color you would be able to notice the difference. the color i used had some brown type grain in it as well that creates a good contrast that looks like sand. here's a pic, like i said, it doesn't do it justice but i think it looks better than straight BB and it is much easier to see the mess that needs to be siphoned.
40720

[TankWatcher]

Thanks Ric,

I had planned to mix a little actual pool filter sand in with the texture paint. The hardware store guy even sold me the right paint glue, that I add to the paint at the same time that I stir through the sand, but I didn't do it. Wish I had now, as it is completely smooth from how I view it. Yours looks good, but imagine even more so in real life, as these fine points are hard to show up in pictures.