A Seasonal Curiosity. . .

Here's a Space Race-era card from the former Soviet Union of all places. I can almost here "Moscow Nights" -- the old Radio Moscow signature tune -- playing softly in the background.

Happy Saturday everyone! Wherever you are in the world, I hope you have the chance to put up your feet and think about toy soldiers for a few minutes, or maybe even do some painting, or have a game.

And so, onto the seasonal image for today. Here's a rarity, a Soviet-era Christmas greeting card that I found online recently. Or maybe it's was intended for New Year's since the official Soviet line, of course, rejected religious observance and associated festivals. This one caught my eye thanks to it's Cold War era styling, the Space Race, and all of that. It also reminded me of that ancient Japanese TV cartoon Astro Boy. Anyone remember seeing that?

Today, I have a couple of errands to run, relating to the run up to Saint Nicholas Day (Sunday, December 6th) and Christmas. Need to send a few things to my mother and stepfather in Mexico, and then maybe I can get in some soldier time this evening, the Grand Duchess and Young Paul willing. The latter actually let us sleep for five straight hours at night without any "requests". At any rate, the nine cuirassiers await their second coat of Future/Klear, and then there is a photo to take and post of them. Finally, I need to basecoat General von Tschatschke and his ADC. So much to do and so little time. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Comments

tradgardmastare said…

stokes
I have had time to contemplate toy soldiers ( amidst the melee of kitchen reinstatement and sundry chores) my thoughts being shared betwixt A Very British Civil War ( alternative 1938)and 19th century Charge. Both being good places to go if only for some planning...
In Tradgardland we have already anticipated the visit of St Nicholas-http://tradgardland.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend with the best hobby there is!
Alan

1:43 PM

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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