The Grand Duchy of Stollen

A few sessions in the painting chair to complete the red facings and turnbacks on (roughly) the first third of my Anhalt-Zerbst regiment.  After a few evenings of brushwork, I managed to get that particular series of steps all done this rainy October afternoon following an unplanned run to the supermarket for that most important of domestic materials.   Kitty litter . Once home, and following the related chore (Jeeze Louise!), I was able to return to more pleasant and interesting affairs with the paintbrush.  Beyond their many buttons and careful washes of white to the light gray undercoat on coats, waistcoats, and plus fours, there is not much left to finish on the foot officer, his NCO, or the musketeers before the usual final touch-ups ahead of glossing. The more detail laden drummer and mounted officer are next, since these figures always require a bit more care and attention. On a related note, Big Lee's latest vlog over at Miniature Adventures -- on metal fig...

  A busy last few weeks here in the Grand Duchy, so painting has slowed somewhat, but I've recently redoubled my efforts with the brush, and here is where things stood with the first (roughly) third of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment after about 90 minutes yesterday evening.   Time to highlight the red facings now -- you can already see where I've started on the mounted officer and two privates at left in the rear rank -- before moving onto a few details like the drum, the colonel's saddle cloth, fringe, and so forth. I'll finish with a couple of washes of white on the raised areas of arms, thighs, and chests/upper backs and a few of the usual very dark gray highlights on the black areas before final touch-ups and glossing. For white and red in particular, I find that a careful wash or three yield(s) more subtle results than applying these paints full strength directly from the bottle.  Of course, it's an inexact science, so take that with a grain of salt....