Next on the Painting Table. . .

Familiar Mollo illustrations of period specific Russian troops. The plates from this particular book just have a certain something about them that I actually prefer to more recent book and online sources.

General Paul von Stollen and staff were received well by our son on his 12th birthday last week, so I have started on the next phase for his planned Christmas gift: a two-gun battery of Russian artillery.

Six Minden crew each and a mounted officer for good measure. Fairly simple, easy uniforms to paint although I have taken my time applying washes of scarlet over some very dark red to a pleasing blend of highlights and lowlights.

The black hats and gaiters are done as are the black facings and turnbacks on seven of the figures. Once I finish that, then I'll take care of the fleshtone (doing things a bit out of order this time). And then the smaller details.

Years ago, I painted some Revell Austrian SYW horse artillery as Russians -- Some of you old timers might remember. -- but the Minden figures are much nicer. They should be spectacular once painted, glossed, and manning their guns when the Young Master unwraps them on Christmas Morning.

-- Stokes

Comments

Rob said…

Is it wise doing Russians for the Young Master? They can be uncommonly hard to shift.

3:45 PM

tradgardmastare said…

Glad the gift was received well and I look forward to seeing the battery progress.

2:14 AM

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said…

Should be a memorable present.

Hopefully he doesn't regularly read your blog.....

9:22 PM

David Morfitt said…

I do agree about the Mollo book; I still find it one of my most inspiring volumes.

Glad to hear your son liked his gift. How could he not? ;-)

Good luck with the Russian artillery and I look forward to seeing progress on them.

Cheers,

David.

11:17 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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