The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  Anticipating their first coat of acrylic gloss, the 1st Company of the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bueckeburg Infantry march toward the brush.   W ell, we're finally to that point.  Making 'em shiny.  Here are the things I use to do that.  I've always wanted to try boat deck varnish, as used by the late Peter Gilder (I read that somewhere), but I suspect that the stuff would smell bad and kill billions of brain cells in the process.  At this point in life, I need to hold on to as many reasonably well functioning brain cells as possible, so acrylic varnish it is.   I took care of the mounted colonel, officers, flag bearers, NCOs, and drummers yesterday (Saturday) and set them aside for safe keeping.  Today, I'll start on the first batch of 16 privates pictured here. Glossing here in the Grand Duchy is always a slow and somewhat laborious process in that I apply it with a brush and a small one at that.  I have found in the past that using a really large brush to apply gloss invari

  The number of small details to attend to with musicians, officers, and NCO's is always surprising even though they do not carry muskets or kit. S omewhat more sporadic painting this last week due to the start of the fall semester/term, but the long Labor Day holiday weekend here in the U.S. has permitted a number of 30 to 60-minute sessions in the painting chair thus far.  So, we're getting nearer to the glossing and permanent basing stage.  I need to check what I have in the way of bases and put in an order to Litko if necessary. A few tiny touch-ups to make here and there, but I'm relatively pleased with the way the drummers are shaping up.  For the red, white, and blue drum hoops and white cords I reached for a very, very tiny sable brush that has not seen use in at least 20 years.  Consisting of just a few hairs (12?  24?), it certainly helped although I don't think the results will win any painting awards.  But they look about right at arm's length and give a