Dragoon Horses Coming to Your Emotional Rescue!

After a couple of days worth of extensive work, the bright bay horses of Squadron A are nearing completion. All that remains are the white blazes on the muzzles, and socks/stockings on some of the legs, save Colonel Von Cranz at left, who's mounted "on a fine Arab charrrr-ggger", which is all done.

The brown on all of the other horses is Grumbacher's "English Red" artist's oil color. Yes, "that" tube given to me by good 'ol Mom about 23 years ago! Takes a couple of days for this particular color to dry to the touch. Pretty rapid for an oil-based color when you think of it. I have used and loved this color for bays and chestnuts for many, many years. It covers extremely well, and it takes only a tiny daub of paint on the palette to color many horses.

I used a #2 synthetic round brush to apply the color to each horse. Slightly small for such a large painting job, but it enabled me to work the color around things like black reins, harnesses, and other details fairly easily, leaving a very thin black line to offset various tiny details and other colors already applied. And guess what? Almost no mistakes to fix. Things like that don't happen too often here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen!

Oh, I've also managed to complete a number of other smaller details, using GW, Poly S, and Ral Partha acylics since the last update, but most are invisible to the eye here. You can see that the drummer's drum is complete however. Next up are the following details:

1) Yellow collars on the red coats
2) Musket stocks and barrels
3) Swords, sword pommels, and scabbards
4) Stirrups and stirrup leathers
5) The "girths" (the large, heavy strap that secures a saddle) across each horse's chest
6) White Crossbelts, waistbelts, and valise straps
7) Then they're done, and it's time to move onto the next group of nine figures -- Squadron B

I've decided to get all 30 figures painted before I varnish them with Future acylic floor polish. Will probably let them sit for a week or so (for the oil to dry out) and move onto the RSM grenadiers in the meantime. Sigh. A wargamng geek's work is never done. But at least the Grand Duchess Sonja will always know where I am. . . sequestered away in the "The Purple Room"!

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Keepin' an Eye on the World Going By My Window . .

'The Nap at the Palace' by Jose Triado Mayol N ot much in the way of hobby-related activity happening here in the Grand Duchy lately. Sigh. And no surprise there really since there are only so many hours in the day, only so much mental and physical energy to spare, and you sometimes simply just have to give in and know when to say, um, "When!" A glass of wine and/or evening yoga by the hearth with the Grand Duchess (who has practiced for over 20 years), and then off into la-la land. Zzzzzzzzz. More immediately, I'm recovering, mentally speaking, from a grueling Friday in which I was involved with three (online) conference sessions, one right after the other, followed by a 90-minute meeting at the end of the day. Also virtual. My brain has been mush ever since, so an easy, completely unproductive Saturday watching intermittent snow fall outside (no accumulation however) and drinking coffee while the visiting handymen completed some repair work down h...

Having a "No Day". . .

F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day." A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day. I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers. These have stood waiting untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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