Starting Squadron B

Another lovely snowfall this morning! 3”-7” predicted, so we might be able to ski along the bicycling trail later today. Seems we’re actually having a real winter this year in our part of Illinois, with genuine cold temperatures (it was -8 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday morning) and several snowstorms. And I love it!

Got down to business with the second squadron of the 4^th (Trakehnen) Dragoons yesterday evening. Painted the first coat of GW Goblin Green on the bases, two coats of red on the coats, the white plumes on the hats, and the gold edging “tape” on the officer’s tricorne.

This evening, I’ll paint the wigs, faces, white gauntlets, and red breeches. But I’ll start with a second coat of green on the bases. The following session, I plan to complete the saddle clothes and valises (light blue edged in yellow) and then carefully trim in the reddish-brown for the horses before moving on to the smaller details. No more photos until the entire regiment is finished and ready for parade. Hopefully before long. But I must give you something to look forward to, right? Stay tuned right here!

Comments

Mr. Fox said…

Snow...lucky...

I always found it fun to go out, get cold, than come inside and have cocoa and paint models. VERY relaxing.

DwarfMan

10:40 AM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Many years ago I was working as an actor in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

They had a "muzzle-loading biathlon" (cross-country skiing and muzzle-loading shooting). One of the plays in our repertory was "She Stoops to Conquer" and I was playing Tony Lumpkin.

I got permission from the theatre and competed in 18th century wig and costume. I'm not very good at skiing, but I did win a medal as the second best shot in the competition.

So there is indeed a connection between skiing and the 19th century.

-- Jeff

3:22 PM

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog