Pontonier Update #4: The Browns

The latest Minden pontonier in-progress photograph.

Lots going on here at the moment, including some final grade calculations, so these can be submitted in the next 24 hours online, and then it's relatively smooth sailing into Christmas. Nevertheless, I've managed to ma e a bit more progress on the 28 Minden pontoniers, including various brown boards, tools, black stocks, and dark blue facings on the four figures wearing their coats. Plus the usual and inevitable tiny touch-ups of course. Not perfect by any means, but they don't look half bad.

Getting to the home stretch with these soon. Really just hair and/or wigs, a few pouches and scabbards and wrapping up the two pontoons in the background. Plus the usual and inevitable touch-ups before a couple of coats of acrylic gloss varnish are applied, and I call 'em finished. And then it's onwards to General von Bauchschmerzen and his wicker carriage. With any luck, I might be able to wrap up most of the work on that before Christmas Day. Cross your fingers!

-- Stokes

And here is today's rather quiet seasonal Swedish (or Norwegian?) vintage greeting card, depicting a remote farm with its 'nisse' (a small gnome-like creature) in the snow outside one of the outbuildings. Makes me want to hitch up a couple of horses to a sleigh with some jingle bells and go for a ride around the valley.

Comments

Der Alte Fritz said…

The pontooniers are coming along nicely. I see some Uhlans in the background.

8:03 PM

marinergrim said…

More excellent work. Just need to find a decent river crossing scenario to use them. I'm sure you have that well in hand as with everything you seem to do.

10:01 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Thank you for you kind comments, men! These figures are terrific fun to paint. Just different enough from anything else I've done that painting has not been a slog through the mud this time around. And of course high quality figures help immensely too. And yes, I've got few Charles S. Grant scenarios in mind for the upcoming solo game in the new year.

Best Regards,

Stokes

2:48 PM

Scheck said…

It´s easily to seen how you liked it to paint them - they really look fresh and accurate. Especially the wooden parts are marvelous!
Peter

2:01 AM

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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