Officers, NCOs, and Musicians in Progress. . .

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.

Somewhat 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 reasonable impression in passing.

According to Armies of the Seven Years War (2012) by Digby Smith, the drummers for the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Infantry had five white lace chevrons on each sleeve. I'm not that talented, so I'll leave the three drummers above well enough alone. I have, however, painted in white piping along cuff edges and the visible coat pockets on the rear of the figures using that same very tiny sable brush, and I am toying with the idea of additional white piping along the lapel edges of my three musicians just to make 'em a bit more showy.

Last, I used dabs of pure silver to highlight the halberds carried by the three NCOs pictured above just to make those stand out a bit more from the bayonets and musket barrels of the enlisted men, which were left in straight gun metal gray. Less visible here are the sword hilts and sword knots (light gray, highlied sparingly with tiny dabs of white) for the 13 figures shown.

Buttons for everyone along with officers' sashes a gorgets next, I think, followed by silver hat lace, white highlights for five pairs of officers' gloves, the horse furniture and detailing of the animal itself. Then, I'll look closely to see what I've no doubt missed and start to finish things off.

-- 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...

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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