Too Many Irons in the Fire. . .

The third batch of 16 musketeers is well underway.

Too much 'real life' on my plate lately as the relatively free months of summer wind down, but I've still managed to find some time here and there for painting.

Playing with the order in which I do things this time to avoid later mistakes with the brush as I try to maneuver it into tight spots. So, for example, I've decided to paint the dark brown undercoat for the figures' hair as well as the dark red undercoat for the neck stocks and coat collars BEFORE applying the fleshtone to faces and hands this time around.

Those two steps will come this evening. Right now, the painting approach has been sort of backwards. Usually, I prefer to paint the flesh areas sooner. But you get to know the road, so to speak, when painting many of a certain figure pose. So, it made sense to modify the usual approach after completing the first 32 or so of these wonderfully detailed castings.

As with so much else in life, a degree of flexibility is called for in the painting chair. "Superflex" as we remind The Young Master when unexpected complications arise.

Now, if the stupid online photo editing app would simply cooperate, I will be able to crop and brighten slightly later photo updates. For some reason Pixlr X has decided not to work with yours truly the last few days. Grrrr. It is maddening.

Ok, time to suit up for some lawn mowing, weeding, and other assorted outdoor tasks since the weather is so delightfully cool and sunny today. Happy late summer!

-- Stokes

Comments

Matt said…

Looking grand!

3:18 PM

Carnoe said…

Happiness is the sight of ranks of miniature soldiers acquiring their colourful paint.

4:35 AM

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

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 ...

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!

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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