Regiment of Dragoons Nears Completion

In the next couple of nights, I hope to wrap up work on the 4th (Trakehnen) Dragoons! Above are a few phtoos for your vieiwng pleasure: A birds-eye view of the entire regiment, a worms-eye view of the same, and a shot of Squadron C as they appear this morning. A few more details remain to paint, and I have some touch-ups in black on several of the troopers throughout the regiment -- mostly things like reins and scabbards. But they're not looking too bad, I think.

While the last nine horses dry out (I use oils for those, you might recall) -- the final paintng step -- I'll start base coating the RSM grenadiers. I've begun painting one of them just to see how they progress, and I'm really pleased. Rapid, easy painting. A welcome change of pace from months of painting plastics! Anyway, to get cracking with the entire RSM-based unit is exciting, to say the least. The fourth shot above illustrates how this single figure is shaping up.

I'll be away for a week in mid-March, so I am shooting for an early April completion date with these fine fellows -- The Leib (Grand Duchess' Own) Grenadier Regiment. And then it's on to paint a few core units for the Electorate of Zichenau.

And what will those unifrms look like? Well, I've already figured out the color schemes of these, using a certain nameless template from a certain nameless source contributed by a certain nameless gentleman developing his own nameless fictitious country and troops ;-).

Suffice to say, some of Zichenau's uniforms are going to be more striking than Stollen's! The violet uniforms worn by Danish artillery during the War of Spanish Succession, along with Henry Hyde's recent article in Battlegames #6 on uniforming one's army, have inspired me to be even more flamboyant with my uniform designs. Afterall, these troops are intended to be used for completely ahistorical games. Hmmm. . . I've always suspected that there was a dandy lurking within me somewhere! That must explain why I enjoy wearing snazzy neckties and blazers.

Comments

marinergrim said…

Excellent. Nuff said.

2:10 AM

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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