General Pipeclay Higginbotham-Bulling and ADC. . .

Introducing General Pipeclay Higginbotham-Bulling (at left on the Chestnut horse) and his ADC Colonel Murgatroyd. Two of Jim Purkey's wonderful range of Fife & Drum Miniatures.

Here is how things stand this afternoon with two of my 20 pledged staff figures for the December 24th 'Friendly Painting Challenge' deadline that is looming ever closer. Still a number of touch-ups to take care of, followed by gloss varnish and then groundwork, but overall, I am reasonably pleased with the way these two are turning out.

Paintwork has been (surprise, surprise) mostly in alkyd oils thinned with Original Liquin while Citadel acrylic paints have been used for most, but not all, of the detailing. In particular, I have Winsor & Newton gold straight from the tube (NOT thinned) for the lace across the fronts and on the sleeves of the good General's and Colonel's coats as well as their epaulettes.

Very easy to put it exactly where you want it, and metallic oils tend to dry much more rapidly than other colors within the medium. Great fun using the oils too, and each painting session is also a learning experience as I work to improve (and maybe one day perfect) my brushwork. Well pleased with the afternoon's work in any case. Ok, now it's back to salt mine and that stack of student papers staring me in the face from where they sit on the right end of my desk.

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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