1:35 Stumps With Roots (4pcs)

Roots as proof of force

A stump cut with a saw tells of work. A stump torn out together with its root plate tells of an explosion, of a gale or of something very heavy having passed that way. That is exactly why this type is so prized in dioramas: it needs no explanation, it can explain by itself what happened in the scene. Four pieces in the box are enough for the edge of a forest cutting, for the side of a road churned up by tracks or for a patch left by an artillery preparation.

Where it sits in the range

Plant stubs make up their own numbered group of seven members in the diorama program of the Barcelona firm Acrylicos Vallejo. Large and small stumps, lying logs, a massive fallen trunk and two palm versions stand side by side in it. The stumps with roots stand out among them, because a root plate is more complex in shape than a smooth cut. The group is at the same time the only place in the whole program where the brand deals with trees.

How to turn a stump into a scene

The roots must not be left hanging in the air. The space between them is filled with earth or with filler mixed with sand and lumps, so that it looks as if the tree had torn a piece of the ground away with it. The wood is painted from a dark base upward through dry strokes to a gray-silver patina on the places exposed to rain. A lighter, warmer tone belongs in the break. A damp shade on the underside of the roots and a few small tufts around it then bring the scene to a close. Anyone who wants to be sure checks the subject against a photograph of a real uprooted tree, because the arrangement of roots has its own logic and the eye spots an untrue shape at once.