I must be crazy to bicycle 30 miles for ice cream in weather this hot!

Just a quick update this hot, hot, hot afternoon. I just finished the bronze scabbard tips, sword hilts, white waistbelts, and swordknots on the enlisted men as well as the bronze scabbard tips, sword hilts, silver sashes, hat tape, and sword knots on the NCOs and officers of Freiherr Wilhelm’s Pioneer Battalion. Besides the same sword related stuff, the battalion drummer got silver hat tape and a leather-colored apron too.

My partner in crime on Vancouver Island, Jeff von Saxe-Bearstein, asked several days ago about “hat tape”, and this unit will indeed have it. It just seems to make everything look a little more “finished” I think. Admittedly, this is a tedious step, and it's daunting when one has 30-60+ figures sitting on the table, looking up at you as if to say, "Well, where's our hat tape? Get on with it!"

Fortunately, only one small mistake this time around with and NCOs hat, and the problem was easily corrected by soaking up the misplaced paint with a damp brush. I can't count the number of times I've relied on Jim "Alte Fritz" Purkey's paint removal tip in the last year or so. It's been a real help.

Anyway, all that remains is the white hat tape for the enlisted men, the officer’s saddle cloth, and some nice, reddish-brown for his horse, which will be a “chestnut” this time. Hope to finish all this later this evening after a bike ride and dinner. Then, I can make a few touch-ups, apply the Future floor finish tomorrow, and we are all done. Photo update to follow once all work is completed. Stay tuned!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

It depends upon the sculpting of course, but painting hat tape on most figures is very easy.

Don't use the tip of the brush. Instead run the side of the brush over the top edge of the hat brim.

With most figures this does a very nice job of delivering a nice thin line of paint for the tape.

Give it a try.

-- Jeff

8:30 PM

Steve-the-Wargamer said…

I'm with Stokes - I find the hat tape to be the worst part of the whole painting experience though I confess to also using Jeff's technique for doing it.... :o))

Stokes - can you share with us the paint removal technique you mentioned??

6:53 AM

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!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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