Skip to main content

Construction Boom in Grand Duchy of Stollen Nears Completion

Just a quick post today, so my wife and I can get in the car and head up to extreme Northern Wisconsin for some nordic skiing this weekend -- Hurrah!

Spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon painting the three latest and FINAL (for the time being) structures: the bridge, farmhouse, and barn. Late yesterday evening, I took another hour or so to add the doors and windows using the black "Sharpie" permanent magc marker. All that remains are the balsa wood and crumbled cork "ruins", which I'll add and paint Sunday evening after our return -- or Monday, depending on how I feel. Externally, eveything looks great. I've perfomed the building process so many times in the last several days that construction and painting went relatively quickly this time.

So, in the last couple of weeks, I've managed to build and paint in the Charles Grant Sr. style the following: a town gate, three merchants' townhouses, a warehouse, a church, a town hall/cate/tavern, a bridge, one farmhouse, and a larger barn. Not bad if I do say so myself. And plenty of real estate for the eventual armies of Stollen and Zichenau to fight over. Should have some photos of the finished structures here for your review sometime next week. Tune in then. Same bat time! Same bat channel!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…
Enjoy your ski trip.


-- Jeff
Anonymous said…
Enjoy the snow.

Of course while you're doing that I trust you're considering the implications of snow fall on the logistical supply lines of an eighteenth century army in winter quarters (or better still a winter campiagn!).
Bluebear Jeff said…
Even MORE IMPORTANT is to make sure that the Grand Duchess (who gifted you with those lovely grenadiers) has a lovely time.

Show her how much you appreciate her and perhaps there will be more toys under the tree in the future.


-- Jeff

Popular posts from this blog

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

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 ...

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...