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

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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