Here's where things stand at the moment. . .

So, Stokes. How are things going with that supply and pontoon train? Reasonably well, albeit at a leisurely painting pace. The Grand Duchess and Young Master are away for 2+ weeks at the in-laws, and I am enjoying the utter peace, quiet, and time to myself. Thoroughly.

You can see from these two photographs that the first four wagons and a vivandiere cart are about finished, and it's time to turn my attention the various beasts of burden and riders/drivers/drovers and the vivandiere herself. Most of the horses have been given an undercoat of Humbrol enamel yellow, orange, or one of two browns.

The air down here in Zum Stollenkeller was redolent with the aroma of solvent-based Humbrol this morning. Cannot begin to fathom how many millions of brain cells I must have killed during last evening's two-hour session at the painting table. However, I was able to make the coffee this morning and managed to shower and dress a short while later without too many difficulties, so things seem all right as far as I can tell. Calculus and trigonometry might be a problem though, but then they always were. And there is the question of that 6' white rabbit that keeps appearing through that wall to my left, checking its pocket watch, and asking, "Aren't you finished yet? How about a dram of single malt and a cigar? Come on!" But I digress.

Anyway, the animals for the first four wagons and the vivandiere cart will next get the usual oil wash, white markings, etc. and then have their harness, straps, and collars picked out with various acrylic browns. Last, but not least, the assorted humans will be issued with their flesh and clothing. Finally, everything will be glossed, and the bases terrained. Probably another four or five evenings of work on the current batch of vehicles et al. Then, it's onto the next five wagons and carts.

In the meantime, be sure to tune in later during the week, to see the first batch of vehicles and teams all finished and ready to go.

-- Stokes

P.S.
By the way, my five painting sessions so far have averaged about two hours at a time more or less. Seems to be a good block of time before I need a break since some of this is repetitive and tedious. But we're getting there slowly but surely.

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

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...

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 ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog