Those new Zvezda Swedish GNW Dragoons look very tempting!

The Plastic Soldier Review people have their latest review up. . . and it's on this new release by Zvezda. Find the link at right and have a look yourself. In general, these look and sound like excellent figures, so I might just have to order three boxes to form a large regiment of dragoons, who fight for on of the lesser principalities surrounding the Grand Duchy of Stollen and the Electorate of Zichenau.

Have been exchanging e-mails with Richard from the Dayton Painting Consortium about some suitable cuirassiers (with swords cast as part of each figure rather than separately, as in the case of the RSM Prussians) . Looks like the Austrian troopers and officer fit the bill. Richard suggested that I use the English heavy cavalry trumpeter. Since I want to include a standard bearer in the unit, I 'll have to ask about that. I think I might need to use one of those open- handed Prussians here with a flagpole and a home-made paper standard, which I always prefer to commercially available flags and standards.

One of you, Marc, I think, asked whether I was moving away from plastics in favor of metals. Quite the contrary! As you'll see, I am excited by the new Zvezda set -- so much, that I think an order is imminent.

I must admit though that those attempted conversions (Zvezda Saxon cuirassiers and Revell tri-cornered heads) currently hold less fascination for me than they once did. I just can't seem to get the angle of the cut right when I separate the heads from their original kneeling musketeer bodies. The result has been that many of the heads are cocked at very strange angles when pinned and glued to their new cavalry bodies. I think it's very good that I harbored no desire to become a surgeon when I was younger!

So, those are on the back burner for the time being. Besides, I've got hussars to finish, a game with Jonathan Broadus to plan, and an 80-figure regiment of RSM Prussian fusiliers to paint before year's end.

Which brings me to today. No social obligations for the first time in about two months this weekend. Meaning that painting can assume its rightful place once more here at Stollen Central. I hope to wrap up that first squadron of Revell Prussian hussars and maybe get started on the second. Look for some photographs Sunday evening or Monday morning!

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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