Goodies. . .

And I don't mean Bill, Tim and Graham! Things are proceeding slowly this week as far as The Grand Duchy of Stollen is concerned! To much prep work for the writing and film courses I teach and not enough time in the evenings for more important stuff like prepping and painting the next batch of figures.

Which brings me to the next point. I have managed to trim the mold lines and flash from six Prussian musketeers in the firing pose and glue them to temporary 1 inch cardboard squares -- my usual way of doing things. They already look good, but it sure is interesting to have them on my desk side by side with the 2^nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers who are all finished except for the protective coat of Future floor polish, something I am going to test on one of the small fellows momentarily as soon as I finish posting this latest entry here. I have not forgotten the photos, and there will be many. Rest assured!

Other goodies. . . I received the first six bottles of GW paints in the mail this afternoon. I read somewhere (OSW or The Miniatures Page?) that these paints cover very well, so I can’t wait to try them out on the batch of figures currently under preparation.

Since Ral Partha and Polly S paints are no more (I particularly enjoyed the latter, discovering them in the fall of 1981 when I began painting D&D figures at 14 years of age), I might even order another six bottle of different colors tomorrow. Then, I’ll have a nice range to work with. I have found over the years that not every color in a particular range works well in all situations. This the reason I use a mix of artist oils, Humbrol enamels (poor old Humbrol and Airfix!), and whatever acrylic paints I can get my hands on. I tried Armory acrylics in the late 80s but found that the coverage was not good at all for most of the colors I tried and went back to Polly S.

I’ve also got a few 25mm SYW Prussian figures and some cannon on the way from Tom Dye at GFI. Must call him with my credit card information tomorrow. Can’t wait to see the Frederick the Great figure on horseback!

Finally, Donald Hauser has posted some pictures of a few musketeers and fusiliers he recently painted, who are fighting for the Duchy of Vulgaria. Needless to say, the RSM95 figures Donald uses are great, and his color scheme ( black coats with light blue and yellow facings/turnbacks) is striking. Have a look at: http://electorateofvulgaria.blogspot.com/