"Red skies at night. . ."

“Red skies at night (red skies at night) – Whoa-oh (whoa-oh) – Whoa-oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. . . “. If you remember that cool song by The Fixx from late 1982-early 1983, my hat’s off to you. Why aren't there any groups writing songs like that anymore? Sigh.

Anyway, that’s just what I’m seeing after completing ALL of the red parts of the final batch of Stollen’s Leib (Gand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, during several shorter painting sessions last night, today, and this evening. Everything red – breeches, collars, cuffs, turnbacks, vests, counter epaulettes, and the cloth part at the rear of each mitre cap-- has had a good coat or two of GW Blood Red. In an earlier post, I mentioned that Step #2 was all done. Well, let’s call the most recent sessions Step# 2a. Whew!

For those who are curious about the equipment I’ve used to paint these RSM grenadiers the last few days, I’ve used a synthetic bristle #2 round brush for most of the work, and a smaller synthetic #1 round to finish up the front of the coats. For the collars, I used my sable #001 brush, which has slightly long bristles and holds a fantastic point, perfect for reaching into those tight spots -- like between the left shoulder, upright musket, and left cheek/jaw of these RSM figures.

All colors, except the flesh, are acrylics by Games Workshop, which have amazing coverage properties. Even over a black undercoat. For flesh color, I like Winsor&Newton "Griffin" alkyd color. It's similar to oil-based paints, but dries to the touch in 24 hours. Ideal, in my opinion, for northern European fleshtones. I've had the same 60ml (2 U.S. ounces) for almost seven years and have hardly put a dent in it. I imagine that I'll eventually pass the tube onto the next generation of figure painters in the family. ;-)

Tomorrow, I enter my “blue period” (hee, hee), and it’s on to the light blue coats with the one red coat for the drummer. Then, we’re into the home stretch as far as I’m concerned. See you then!

P.S.

That “Old School” pull (some might call in black magic) is too much to resist! Almost forgot to mention that I’m placing a small order for some Spencer Smith and Holger Eriksson cavalry later in the week, which I’ll have shipped to Berlin for the Grand Duchess Sonja to bring along when she returns home in July.

Comments

SteveI said…

They are looking good, I wist I could see the detail well enough on the RSM figures to paint it in as you have!

Steve

5:00 AM

Snickering Corpses said…

Very good indeed. You've picked out details here and there in the last batch that I didn't even know were there.

6:51 AM

MurdocK said…

A real labor of love going there, should be a fantastic looking unit when completed.

1:08 PM

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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