Wagons Ho! -- An Update. . .

Most of the wagons and carts are now mostly assembled although there are still a few tiny bits and pieces to cement together on the two wagons in the background next to the Humbrol enamels and the two wagons in the foreground. In addition, the two open-sided hay carts, drawn by the oxen, are due to have their 'ribs' (for want of a better term) cemented into place. That particular step should be a huge pain in backside, so I'm avoiding it at the moment.

The pontoon and supply trains are taking gradual shape. Since a brief adolescent foray into Revell plastic model car kits 3+ decades ago -- I went through a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray phase with I was 11-12 years old. Farrah Fawcett Majors' "Foxy 'Vette" in silver-gray plastic anyone? -- I had forgotten how you've got to assemble multipart models bit by painstaking bit. Which requires holding your breath, of course, as you carefully glue a few tiny pieces into place and back gently away from the painting table, so you don't disturb anything.

And then, you must then go away for 24 hours or so, returning the next evening to continue with another phase of assembly. Since even instant bonding super glues and gels take a while to cure and set fast, and that's if you don't get a minute wagon axle or something stuck fast to your eyelashes in the meantime, it's taking several days to get all of this stuff assembled for subsequent base coating, painting, glossing, and limited terrain treatment of bases. However, I must admit that I am enjoying the journey for the most part.

So, here is where things stand currently. I have been, these last few days, interspersing work on another Norwegian to English translation of an essay by the late author Stig Saeterbakken (first draft finally wrapped up a short while ago) with the various stages of wagon and cart assembly. A little cementing here, a little translation there, and so on, and so forth, ad infinitum. Don't you just love Latin phrases?

Thus far, things have gone reasonably well, and you'll notice very few superglue induced fingerprints on any of the parts. That has, in turn, meant that the anticipated muttering and cursing under my breath has been minimized. Jeeze Louise! If I'm not careful, this could become a habit. In any case, time for another late afternoon mug of coffee I think.

-- Stokes

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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