A Sizzlin' Summertime in the Grand Duchy!

This photograph gives you not only an update of where we stand with the painting progress of this particular unit, but also how nicely the Revell plastics work with the RSM95 metal figures.

To begin with, Phil Olley has just added another update to the Broadside section of his War Cabinet website, featuring some lovely additions to his 18^th century cavalry. Take a gander at: http://www.warcabinet.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/.

Second, after some oppressively warm and humid weather here in Central Illinois, we have a much cooler and more comfortable day today, so the Grand Duchess and I can get in part of a bike ride later this afternoon, which was rained out yesterday. We were scheduled for 67 miles in the annual “Pedaling for Kicks” ride, which is organized and put on each year by a local church. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate, and we had thunderstorms with heavy rain for several hours during the morning. :-(

And finally, here is a photograph of Freiherr Wilhelm’s Pioneers with their new shoulder belts and straps in place. Not much left to paint now, just a few things like the colonel’s horse and saddle cloth, the drum shell and hoops, and small metal bits, plus some of the inevitable black lining touch ups between the belts and straps! Grrrrrr. . .

If life cooperates, I hope to have these all finished by mid-week. Then, it’s on to another RSM general and his ADC, some work on the planned wargaming table, and a return to those long delayed Zvezda heavy cavalry conversions, which I want to finish (after almost two years) and paint before the weather begins to cool at the end of September. Charge!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

They are looking very good. I presume that this is one of those units that did not have hat tape.

-- Jeff

4:17 PM

marinergrim said…

67 miles! That's more than a wee jaunt on a bike isn't it?

However, the painting progress looks great. Keep it up Stokes.

6:34 AM

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

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