Let me rephrase the question...
What is the best way to simulate a wooden building in 1/72 scale (with logs, like a log cabin) without having to use individual logs?
Im trying to scratchbuild this..

Try the smallest dowel rod that you can find. They come in 3 ft. lengths and are relatively inexpensive. I have used them before for 1/35. You can buy dowel rods at the hardware store or Menards, Home Depot etc. Try to get the softwood variety though. You can cut them to the desired length. Use a wire brush to scratch grain into them. Use your hobby knife for deeper gouges, knotholes etc. Once the basic construction is complete, paint with a basecoat of rattlecan black, then drybrush your choice of colors.

If possible I would look into plastruct or evergreen sheets that mimic the desired 'texture'.
If you want to go with antoher option I would start with a flat sheet of plastic and 'etch' in your basic lines with the back of a #11 or a pin.
You may also try to use the corner of a small file to etch in more of a wider V pattern.

Yeah, if it is a flatt surface, Evergreen makes tons of prescribed panels in HO scale which is close enough to 1/72nd. You said logs so I was thinking round, but looking at the pic, it looks like a square planked building rather than round logs.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the help everybody, though the picture is very small, i dont think it is easy to see that the building is made of logs. I will look into the dowell rod idea, and on my next visit to the hobby shop i will see what plastruct and evergreen have to offer.
Here is a better photo of the subject.

Ok - the bigger pictures give me more to think about. Here is more to think about.

If you can get your hands on a cotton swab used at the doctors office (or vets office). They are about 1.5mm in diameter and about 6 - 8 inches long with a dab of cotton on one end.
Or
Go to a grocery/cooking store and get wooden shish-ca-bob (spelling?) squers. They are around the right diameter and up to 12 inches long.

These would give you a 'ready' shape and size to scratch this log by log.

Slodder, I think you mean shish-kebab skewers ? :-)

Whilst on the subject of eating implements for dio building, I just saved the chopsticks from our chinese take away. They are square on one end and round at the other, perfect for the roof rafters for my church ruin.

cheers
Henk

You can use matchsticks. But ofcourse, get a cylindrical one (if there's any available there)

If u also go to a Greek Souvlaki store somewhere u can eat many many sublakia and get then for free the needed sish - ke bap sticks!!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Seriously theyre useful for everything u can imagine , get a pack of them theyre inexpensive

Try those high quality cylindrical toothpics. They look like little wooden dowel rods with pointed ends.

Just cut off those pointed ends and viola...you have a log.

Angela

Even at 1/72nd scale, Toothpicks, matchsticks and skewers are too small in diameter. A building log is approximately 8 - 10 inches in diameter. So you woul want the logs to be about a third larger in dia. than the circumference of the arm on a 1/72nd figure. OK, I am geeking out here, but I am technical about everything. Just me!!!

The wooden cotton swab idea would be about right though.

I'd use toothpicks, kebap sticks and matches, glued to a background of hard paper or styrene sheets.
When ready, it'll look beautiful and noone will care about log diameters. As far as it is an old Russian chapel, they maybe used other diameters before communism ... Go for it !

Frank

SLAVA- You may wish to look up a thread posted by Blockhaus on makin wood buildings from cork & cardboard. He does some very impressive work.
If you don't want to take the time to lay skewers one on top of the other, I mght suggest three methods-
1.) Glue several skewers (or whatever you decide is the thing to use) to a piece of cardstock, the size of your largest wall. Sand the tops & bottoms if this is how the real thing was constucted. Then cast a mold from plaster or silicone, & when dry remove your original & cast several sheets out of plaster or resin. this way you can simply cut & paste the walls together as needed. this should save a lot of time.
2.) glue a sheet of cork to a sheet of cardstock. make a jig of several concave radii of the same interior diameter as your "logs". You can make this by casting like the above example, gluing several lengths of tubing split lengthwise to a plate, etc.. Then Glue some medium sandpaper to the inside of the tubes( glue it nice & flat so it conforms to the curves) and run this back & forth along the cork sheet. Use a straighedge as a rest to keep it uniform. repeat as necessary to cover the sheet. if you use successively smaller grains, you shold wind up with a relatively smooth surface. when you achive the desired result, coat the cork in a heavy artist's medium to seal out the 'pebbled effect', then scribe woodgrain as required.
3.)Invest in a set of LINKA timber moulds:

http://www.linkaworld.com/Ordering/PayPal_Order_Form.htm

Cast the blanks & combine them as you see fit. This is most likely the quickest option, but will cost you more up front. Time vs. Money. Your call.

Whew long post, But I hope it helps...
Welcome to the Big A, btw!
RobH

yeah i´d also do it like this.
Build your church of styrene or wood sheets, and the glue thin woodsticks (not toothpics, imo these would be too short) to it, after that you can paint everything

greets,

ekke

once again thanks for the help, what im going to do is build the curch with thin wooden sheets and the glue the dowl rods to it (cut to the appropriate lengths). Everything is layed out, the rods have been divided into the right amount of segments with the right measurements, everything has been graphed out on paper, i have all of the supplies, and the patterns have been drawn on the wood sheets. I have also made a paper model of the church using the patterns and everything fits together nicely
But this leaves me with another problem.
How should i cut the grooves for the rods so they overlap equally?

And should i paint the inside of the church before or after it is assembled?

In regards to the overlap cut. Yikes!! for the scale your working in thats going to be tough to cut those grooves so that the logs set down on each other with out alot of gaps.. I'm guessing youd need some kind of mechanial saw system to set the blade to slice that out.
What if you had a round drill or dremel bit the same diameter as your logs. One wall of logs would be completely intact. The logs coming in perpendicular to the intact wall would be drilled or dremeled out in a concave to fit against the intact logs. Then you would have to have a small peice of log drilled out concave to be attached to the other side of the intact logs to represent the perpendicular logs completeing the wall corner.. If the drill or dremel is the same diameter as the logs it should be a tight fit..
Hope this idea makes sense.. good luck

I like that second idea. Though i am still completely perplexed as to how i am going to make this. Perhaps i dont have logs overlapping, i am going to do something that gives the effect anyways. I dont have alot of time to complete this and there is still alot of work to be done.