Some Painting Progress Photographs. . .

Here is a progress photo, showing the second batch of Huzzah figures on the painting bench. So far, just the larger areas and flesh have been painted along with the hatlace, yellow/black pompoms, and musket slings. If there is any time this weekend (doubtful since we have dinner guests this evening and I've got student projects to review and grade tomorrow), I'll start the red facings and turnbacks.

Bad alliteration notwithstanding, here are a couple of promised photos, showing where I stand with the second batch of Huzzah musketeers. Lately, I've been painting in 30-60 minute bursts (I usually prefer a couple of hours between breaks or other activities) when the baby is asleep during the afternoons, or in the evenings after bedtime. The trouble is that I must then read and plan the lesson for the next day of my May Term film course. So, sadly, there has not been as much painting time as I would like. Still, the Grand Duchy of Stollen project is moving ahead even if at half steam, so I suppose I shouldn't grumble too much.

Once the third batch, er, company, and indeed the whole unit, has been completed in early June, it's on to another two-gun battery of artillery and crew, which I'll paint in either Bavarian uniforms or those of Shaumburg-Lippe. What can I say? I like light blue! And then, it's time to get cracking on that 30-figure unit of Holger Eriksson dragoons, purchased last summer and sent to our apartment in Berlin. I've always admired Phil Olley's units of these, used in the Partizan 2006 Sittangbad refight, so I'm excited by the prospect of painting some myself and further reducing the pile of metal here in Zum Stollenkeller.

Now, some of you might remember that, although I've been sorely tempted of late to add some RSM Austrian pandours to the painting queue, plus replace my plastic Revell artillery crews with RSM figures, I'm holding off on any more purchases until I make a more substantial dent in said pile of unpainted miniatures. Chaaaaaarge!!!

And finally, here is a close-up of an infantry private from the same batch under better lighting conditions. Still a way to go, but they're coming along.

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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