Hey, I am doing a project at my club and I am doing a logging camp, I was wondering if anyone knows how to make easy and realistic stumps? I dont want ot buy any I dont mind buying some supplies but I dont want to just buy models or castings of them because they are to expensive. Thanks ya’ll Mike
My technique: Take a good-looking stick, cut it into stump-shaped pieces, and spray them with dullcote. If i’m adding roots I use modeling clay or some such thing. This works well rfor gettin ‘growth rings’ on the stumps.
14 stump castings for $3.29 is too expensive??[%-)]
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&P=WR&I=LXKT05
Roots work wbest, though tree branches work also. Cut a branch off of a larger branch just into the larger branch. That leaves a root system. Then cut the stump the proper height. Cut 1/2 way through with a razor saw. Then cut the other side just lower. Stop the second cut just before you go through and break off. You get a perfect stump. You can make a lot in an hour.
First you need to gather some suitable-looking branches, to make some trees. Paint them if necessary, stretch some poly fibre over them, then spray with some cheap, unscented hairspray. Follow this by sprinkling on some suitably-coloured ground foam - I’ve found that darker colours used first, followed by lighter colours will give a sunlit appearance. After planting the trees on your layout, and allowing the glue to dry, cut them down: tree stumps galore! [(-D] [swg] Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
The suggestion about using plant roots is a good one, as is the “cut-and-snap” method for branches.
Wayne
For my logging camp, I removed the root/stump castings from [bottle brush] pine trees, which I just stick directly into the foam anyway. This left a hollow stump, so I pushed a round toothpick into each one and cut it off flush with the casting. This left me with a gray/brown stump with a whitewood center. They look very realistic. Wish I had kept the castings I have thrown away in the past.