The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The fully assembled Berliner Zinnfiguren Prussian mobile field forge with Fife & Drum limber horses and an RSM95 rider. A few of you asked the other day for a peek at the items schlepped home from Berlin recently by the Grand Duchess, so here you are. -- Stokes Various Willie (Suren) 30mm ladies of ill repute, with The Naughty Lola at the center of things, and a 30mm Black Hussar Prussian military chaplain.  I'd say he has his work cut out for him.  More 30mm Willie (Suren) sutleresses and vivandieres.  I'll use these in two or three small vignettes, one of which will include a couple of soldiers' wives tending a large pot of laundry over a fire and hanging wet things on a line.  A 30mm Willie (Suren) plucky stable lad and running farm girl. A 30mm Willie (Suren) bishop.  This one has, as yet, no practical application, but he was too good to pass up since he bears such a marked resemblance to Monty Python's Terry Jones....

Various useful 30mm Willie figures and a Prussian SYW-era mobile field forge, courtesy of Berliner Zinnfiguren, a truly amazing little model that comes almost fully assembled. C ontinuous insane laughter.  Nothing more need be said really. -- Stokes

You and a guest are cordially invited to attend a formal ball, hosted by the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, to be held this evening at Krankenstadt Palace.  Festivities are to commence precisely at the hour of nine o'clock. I t seems, The Grand Duchy of Stollen blog has picked up another couple of followers during the last few days, raising the number to 201 souls who, apparently, are interested in my various and sundry occasional meanderings here.  In any case, a hearty welcome to you, thank you for your interest (it's nice to share one's hobby with like-minded people around the globe), and please continue to check in during the coming weeks when things will, hopefully, become a bit more interesting than has been the case in recent months. -- Stokes P. S. The Grand Duchess is wending her way home circuitously from Berlin at the moment, via either Copenhagen or Amsterdam (maybe both), through New York's JFK and finally to Chicago O'Hare, followed by a four-...

This old standard from the historical Duchy of Courland (part of modern day Latvia) will provide the model for eventual Grand Ducal standards, which will be added to the line infantry regiments of The Grand Duchy of Stollen along side their existing regimental standards. I t seems that a pernicious painting funk is making the rounds for a number of us in Bloglandia at the moment.  Sigh.  I have been a complete and utter painting sloth since. . .  What was it?  March?  While I've tinkered a bit with prepping my pontoon and wagon train for painting these last three weeks, it has been difficult to get the coveted painting mojo stoked up again during the Grand Duchess' prolonged absence in Berlin, and my acting as sole parent and beneficiary to our son.   To be up front about it, the Young Master has been an angel most of the time, easy going, and a pleasure to look after, a responsibility with which I am already more than well acquainted.  H...

A little 3 in 1 Oil or WD40 might be just the thing. W ell, the spring semester has been finished for a little over two weeks now and grades were submitted on April 30th.  Still, it's been hard to get the painting gears moving again even though they were clicking along smoothly during January-March.  The Grand Duchess left a number of days ago for three weeks in Berlin to visit some archives and meet with a few people in her field, so I've been otherwise occupied looking after the Young Master. He has been a hoot, and easy to get along with, since his mother left last Wednesday.  Clearly, a real sense of humor and fun has developed in the last 18 months or so.  As wonderful as that is, and much to my chagrin, I have also found that when the Young Master is able to make me laugh, it becomes very hard to exercise parental authority and restore order.  He simply stops listening and continues to clown around if I giggle at his antics.  So, a great deal o...

A photograph of racing dogs seemed more appropriate, given my current state of mind, than racing horses. W ell, Sir, we are almost there.  The final day of classes is next Tuesday after which I have final drafts of papers to read and final course grades to submit online.  And then it's time to start painting all of these wagons, carts, and teams.  Our friend in Berlin, "Tante Anita," took delivery of the Berliner Zinnfiguren 30mm forge last Saturday, which the Grand Duchess will transport home in her carry-on baggage when she returns after her approaching three-week research tip to Berlin in May.   Naturally, I'd love to be in Berlin during May myself, but there you are.  The Young Master and I will hold down the fort in Mom's absence.  Meanwhile, the Grand Duchess will enjoy, by all accounts, and judging from the photographs I've seen online, a a rather posh apartment somewhere on the western edge of the city.  Let's just say it looks ra...

Berliner Zinnfiguren Prussian FIeld Forge, item #207/PR95.  A hearty thank-you to Jim "Der Alte Fritz Purky" for steering me in the right direction in more than one sense.  Photograph swiped from the Berliner Zinnfiguren website. A hhh. . .  I've just place an order with Berliner Zinnfiguren in Germany for the above item, which will complete my transport/logistics and pontoon trains.  Ok, who am I kidding?  There are a couple of Perry wagons/carts that I want to add down the road, but for now, we'll call it done. The current wagons and carts have been waiting patiently for some time over on the apinting table as I dig out from beneath various student assignments, planning for classes four days a week, and work I've been involved with in planning for this year's intitiation ceremony for the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.  Rewarding once the day arrives, the ceremony happens, and it's done for another year, but a royal pain in the neck (some days) wh...

All attached to their bases, the various wagons and carts await the attachment of a few final items, on the way from the Dayton Painting Consortium, and then their undercoats.  I plan to add additional pairs of horses/riders to the five Fife&Drum powder and pontoon wagons before long.  Model wagons this nice simply need four horses to do them full justice! M aking slow but steady progress getting the wagons and carts ready for base-coating and painting.  Yesterday (Saturday), the Grand Duchess was away at an all day conference, and the Young Master was good enough to desire playing with his Thomas the Train set-up for most of the afternoon.  So, Dad was able to spend a good little while -- really 2-3 separate sessions -- attaching wagons, horses, oxen, and drovers to bases.  Here is where things stand at the moment. In the end, I ended up cutting out my own bases with a T-square, metal ruler, and hobby knife, which took a couple of hours and some care...

Breaker 1-9!  Breaker 1-9!  You got your ears on, good buddy?  The convoy in its fully assembled state.  Maybe I can find a 28mm Kris Kristofferson figure somewhere to head it up?  T he supply and pontoon trains are now fully assembled.  The various wagons and carts are from the Old Glory, Blue Moon, and Fife&Drum ranges by the way.  Although nothing is painted yet, I like the look of everything so much that I am sorely tempted to order a few more different wagons and carts later in the spring or early summer just to add some more variety.  Of course, the armies of Stollen and Zichenau "need" a vivandiere cart or two, don't they?  And then there is the Berliner Zinnfiguren mobile forge that I need to order soon, so the Grand Duchess can pick up and transport it home when she visits Berlin in May. A few more Minden walking and seated drivers/drovers and some RSM95 limber horse riders are necessary to complete the picture. ...

Most of the wagons and carts are now mostly assembled although there are still a few tiny bits and pieces to cement together on the two wagons in the background next to the Humbrol enamels and the two wagons in the foreground.  In addition, the two open-sided hay carts, drawn by the oxen, are due to have their 'ribs' (for want of a better term) cemented into place.  That particular step should be a huge pain in backside, so I'm avoiding it at the moment. T h e pontoon and supply trains are taking gradual shape.  Since a brief adolescent foray into Revell plastic model car kits 3+ decades ago -- I went through a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray phase with I was 11-12 years old.  Farrah Fawcett Majors' "Foxy 'Vette" in silver-gray plastic anyone? -- I had forgotten how you've got to assemble multipart models bit by painstaking bit.  Which requires holding your breath, of course, as you carefully glue a few tiny pieces into place and back gently away from...

An RSM95 cuirassier officer -- Prussian or Austrian, I can never remember which -- and an RSM95 dragoon officer that comes, I think, from the French range of SYW figures.  The horses are by RSM95 too. A lrighty!  I've now completed all eight of the singly based aides de camp, a mix of various and sundry RSM95, Fife&Drum, and Minden rider and horse figures.  Time now to dive headlong into the various wagons, carts, and teams now littering my painting area.  I've got a new bottle of thick, slower curing CA glue from the local model railway shop just for that purpose. The figures shown here, at any rate, are based on the Saxon 'Von Arnim' Cuirrassiers and 'Von Leipziger' Dragoons uniforms worn by officers in these regiments as presented in Dr. Stephen Sommerfield's book on the subject -- The Saxon Army of the Austrian War of Succession and the Seven Years War (2011) along with the usual bit of artistic (??!!) license.   These figures aren...

Banastre Tarleton (left) and Francis Marion (right).  Figures by Fife&Drum, painted mostly with Winsor & Newton Griffin alkyd oils, some details picked out with Citadel acrylics, and groundwork done with Woodland Scenics. A ll good road movies need a duo of sorts.  Sarandon and Davis, Gibson and Glover, Martin and Lewis, Hope and Crosby, Abbott and Costello. . .  Tarleton and Marion.  Just think of the films those two could have made!   Anyway, here they are, freshly glossed and terrained -- Banastre and Francis.  Not hyper-detailed, but enough to make me happy, and, most important, they are done.  They'll do fine at arm's length on the table.  Tarleton will serve as an officer in the Army of Zichenau, and Marion in the Army of Stollen where his dark blue and red-faced coat will fit right in. -- Stokes   Francis Marion, aka "The Swampfox" up close and personal.  You see here how, if things work like they should...

  The recently added selection of wagons, carts, horse teams, drovers, drivers, oh, and the small but respectably sized (and organized) pile of lead here at Stollen Central. N ot much has happened during the last couple of weeks here at Stollen Central due mostly to professional and service commitments.  Sigh.  However, we are at the star our our nine-day Spring Break, so I'm making efforts to rectify the situation.  That's as it should be after all, right? First, I've wrapped up the glossing on my Fife&Drum Banastre Tarleton and Francis Marion figures, who will have their groundwork finished this evening.  Depending on how I fell, I might just dust off the foamcore lightbox and camera to snap a couple or three photographs of the finished miniatures to share here.   Next, I have started on those final two RSM95 figures, a cuirassier and a dragoon officer, which I'll paint, naturally, as a Saxon cuirassier officer and a Prussian dragoon off...

S adly, I was too wiped out to paint last night after little sleep the night before, followed by a long day on Monday.  But here is where things stand so far for the year.   By the way, a nice little package arrived from Fife&Drum-Minden Miniatures yesterday, and in only two days.  Yes, TWO days from the time Der Alte Fritz posted it until it arrived on our doorstep.  Now, I just live downstate from Greater Chicago, but that's pretty darn good customer service and shipping/handling if you ask  me.  Less than a week between making the initial order and receiving the goods.  Fun stuff unpacking those extra pontoons, horse teams, drivers, and wagon/horse riders yesterday evening.   Now, all that's needed is the arrival of the Blue Moon and Old Glory wagons and carts that I ordered last week.  In the meantime, here is a run down of what I've managed to wrap up so far and what's planned for the coming months at the...

  Blobs of color on the piece of palette paper above include Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, Flesh Tone, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Black, and Sap Green. A spot of painting here in Zum Stollenkeller this afternoon.  The usual oils and alkyd oils thinned with Liquin Original, so the air is subtly fragrant with that delightful aroma of pigment and the vehicles in which it has been suspended.  Among the four individually based figures currently under the brush include Banastre Tarleton and Francis Marion by Fife & Drum.  Eagerly awaiting the arrival of two packages that contain various bits and pieces that will become either the supply train or the pontoon train.  Exciting times indeed! -- Stokes