Von Scheither's Freicorps Pioneers. . .

My Minden figures lack the dashing headgear worn by the fine pioneer fellow above, but the colors of his uniform are extremely pleasing to the eye. When I came across this particular illustration a few evenings ago, I knew at once that I had found my inspiration as far as colors are concerned. And by the way, the grenadier to his left also sports a most attractive uniform. Hmmm. . . I might just have to add a unit of those at some point.

Finally managed to find a copy online of the illustration, which I found originally in one of my books on Prussian and Hanoverian SYW-era freikorps, and on which I'll base the uniforms for my own two dozen Minden pioneers. Speaking of which, I just spent an enjoyable hour or so carefully cementing digging and chopping tools into their hot little hands as well as a ladder, a couple of balsa "boards," and a few scratch-built facines in miniature.

Yes, yes. It has been a fairly idle afternoon here at home with not much of consequence achieved beyond a few mugs of coffee, a quick trip out to pick up some Valentine's Day cards for wife and child, picking up the Young Master from preschool, and finally making his lunch. I am indeed a weak and filthy shirker. A morally and ethically loose cannon.

Kidding aside, fear not since I will be inundated with a fresh batch of student papers over the next few days, followed by another 10-day (or so) period of reading grading, and providing written feedback to the students in question.

-- Stokes

Comments

Mad Padre said…

Those are indeed handsome uniforms. The wavy lace at the cuffs is especially attractive, if somewhat hard to paint. I would indeed steal those designs.

9:24 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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