Skip to main content

You could hear a pin drop. . .


In a bit of a painting slump here at the moment.  What else is new?  Hasn't that been the case since late winter?  These Minden hussars are kicking my tail, figuratively speaking, and have me completely psyched out.  Hopefully, the painting inspiration will strike again before too much longer, but it won't be this weekend I'm afraid.  Too much else to do in the way of domestic bliss (??!!) and tomorrow too much reading and preparation for Monday's classes.  Sigh.  It's like being back in graduate school all over again.  And to add insult to injury, I had to take down part of my wargaming table here in Zum Stollenkeller yesterday afternoon, so that we could use two of the folding tables for a departmental picnic that we hosted outside on the patio yesterday evening.  Grrrrr.  Sometimes, life just doesn't go the way you want it to.

Comments

Paul said…
Hi Stokes

I know that the mindens have wonderful detail ect
but in my opinion Spencer Smith
or Holger E figures look more dramatic and are a simple joy to paint
just my two cents worth

Paul
Stokes - sometimes the only thing you can do is sit down and paint yourself out of the funk - may take an hour, but just sit down, pick up the damn brush and set to..... usually works for me.... if that doesn't work - have a game, or go to a wargame show soonest... they all seem to get the juice flowing again....
A J said…
Hi Stokes, I found painting to be a chore until I broke the lead mountain down into groups of 16 or less. The chore seems to go much faster then.
marinergrim said…
We all go through this, sometimes several times a year in my case. Right now there are twelve Persian cavalry sitting on the painting table waiting to be finished - over a week now - and they only need weapons and metals! My tonic will be a trip to the Newark wargames show next week.
Gentlemen,

Thank you for your words of encouragement. You are correct on all counts. I'll try breaking my batches of nine figures down into three, and just work on those. . . But the pull of HE or SSM hussars just might win me over in the end! There's no arguing with their charm and comparative ease of painting as Paul points out. Paul, where did you purchase your HE hussars? I haven't ever noticed any on the HE or SSM websites.

Best Regards,

Stokes
Paul said…
Hi Stokes

The HE hussars are no longer made, I purchased 11 old stock from ebay and tradition Scandanavia, for the rest of the unit I am using SSM hussars these are the exact same figure but with the bonus of weilding a sword.

The HE hussars are wearing a mix of Hats but the SSM are all in busby

With modern figures I struggle with all the superb detail and quickly lose interest, with HE type figures I actually enjoy painting them so much I find it hard to put the brush down especially if I imitate the talented Mr Preece and dont consult a uniform book. Just use bold colours that suit the figures.
Best regards
Paul

Popular posts from this blog

The 18th century? What's the Fascination?

Hessian musketeers by All the King's Men Toy Soldiers of Snellville, Georgia, U.S.A. Just a quick post post today, but I thought the above question might be interesting food for thought. Obviously, there is an array of possible periods, theaters, and conflicts that might catch our eyes. But what is it about the era 1700-1799 -- either real, or imagined? Is it the commanders and politics? The fairly straightforward tactics? The myriad of uniforms and flags? The variety and scope of the conflicts? The patchwork of various and sundry petty states, (at least in Central Europe)? I'm very interested to learn your thoughts. Don't be a lurker! Please leave a comment -- or even two or three. Have a nice day everyone!

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

  Marginally neater in appearance with green bases, girths, and ivory horse markings added, but I need to neaten up some hooves now before moving onto the rest of the tack. W here in the world did June go? While I still ponder the answer to that question, how about a quick painting update on the first batch of 14 Minden Austrian hussars and Nadasdy? Good.  I'm glad we are of a like mind. Still on the sloppy side, but I've managed to move things along, painting the green bases, white (ivory) horse markings, and beginning the miles and miles of tack adorning the various horses.  I always like to begin with the girths spanning the horses' ribs which helped hold the saddles in place.  Even with the figures mounted individually on temporary painting bases, these can be kind of tricky to access, but there we are. I've also used various Army Painter washes (Mid-Brown and Strong Tone) as well as their Speed Paint (Grim Black) to make the manes and tails of the horses a bit m...

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...