i just finished a diorama and placed my finished vehicle on it. the problem is that the vehicle doesnt appear visually blended in with the dio.

which paints or pastels can i use to blend the vehicle to the base ?

vehicle is tamiya sas jeep on dessert sand terrain.

thanks.

Maybe Use Weathering Paints

Hola!

You can drybrush the Jeep with same colors as you used for the ground work, that way it will bring the two together. Also you can use pastels in the same tones as the ground work, which would acctually be better as dessert's are a dusty place and pastels look like real dust. Hope this is of some help. If not I am sure some of our great armor and diorama builders here will come to your rescue!

One of my final steps is to drybrush around the bottom of the vehicles and figures, starting on the base and "pulling" the tones up onto the tracks, boots, etc. of the models. This usally blends everything together fairly well.
A good example of this can be found at link below...

Figure blended into ground work...

I've never used an airbrush but sounds good.

LazyArt,
Question - Did you build in ruts for the wheels to 'drive' in? Unless it was very hard packed sand there would be ruts from the tires. The lack of ruts will make the jeep look like it is 'sitting' On the diorama instead of being part of the diorama.

As far as blending it in, these guys have it. What I would do is airbrush a light 'see through' coat of Tamiya's dark yellow on the wheels, fenders, undercairrage, bumpers etc. That will get you the overall tone of the dust. Then I would add pastels on top of that, that will give you texture.

Keenan - VERY nice looking diorama Figure blended into ground work... .... good "gooey" mud!

As for blending, much of what I have to say is already posted... i will summarize:

- make sure you have appropriate "tire/tread" marks if appropriate

- in rural settings, be sure to add loose folliage (leaves, twigs, mud) into tread or grilles.

- blend with pastels or washes AFTER you have embedded your figure/vehicle into the scene... if is often pretty hard to blend if you have already done your washes and weathering seperately for each object.

In the case of the sandy envions of the Sahara, I would suggest some fading of paint on the vehicle, along with dusting of windshields, and the inclusion of pastel dust (tans & browns) in corners, wheel-wells, cabins, etc.

Look forward to seeing some of your work!

thanks for the help. i already weathered the jeep and the ground - seperately, maybe theres my error. i'm going to place the jeep on the base then airbrush (thinned) sand on the base and bottom of jeep, hopefully this will tie it all together ???

The same goes for figures in muddy or sandy environment. Too many dioramas show soldiers that seem to be beamed down by the Enterprise, straight from the dry cleaners. After a few weeks in the desert or any other terrain, you can hardly tell the orginal color of the bottom part of your uniform. Just try crawling through the garden for ten seconds wearing your best suit and see what your wife/mom thinks of the result at the knees .

Dust vehicle in same colors as your dio. Take extra care of tracks and wheels.

Always make sure all four wheels of a vehicle rest on the groung. Always make sure the whole tank's track rests on the ground. What you should do is adapt your dio to the presence of the vehicle (for soft groung), adapt the vehicle to the diorama (e.g. on concrete).

If the jeep still looks like its On the dio you can use putty/spackle to build up the sand (just a bit) to form ruts. To get the idea of what I'm getting at - take a toy car and push it through the sand at a sandbox and see how the sand almost acts a bit like water and pushes up and away mounding a touch.

And don't be afraid to pull an 'Eagle' and 'Nuke' the base a'la the Winter Diorama Campaign and start over or do a major overahaul on a portion of the base.

Of be satisfied and know of a few tips for the next diorama.