Starting Squadron B

Another lovely snowfall this morning! 3”-7” predicted, so we might be able to ski along the bicycling trail later today. Seems we’re actually having a real winter this year in our part of Illinois, with genuine cold temperatures (it was -8 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday morning) and several snowstorms. And I love it!

Got down to business with the second squadron of the 4^th (Trakehnen) Dragoons yesterday evening. Painted the first coat of GW Goblin Green on the bases, two coats of red on the coats, the white plumes on the hats, and the gold edging “tape” on the officer’s tricorne.

This evening, I’ll paint the wigs, faces, white gauntlets, and red breeches. But I’ll start with a second coat of green on the bases. The following session, I plan to complete the saddle clothes and valises (light blue edged in yellow) and then carefully trim in the reddish-brown for the horses before moving on to the smaller details. No more photos until the entire regiment is finished and ready for parade. Hopefully before long. But I must give you something to look forward to, right? Stay tuned right here!

Comments

Mr. Fox said…

Snow...lucky...

I always found it fun to go out, get cold, than come inside and have cocoa and paint models. VERY relaxing.

DwarfMan

10:40 AM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Many years ago I was working as an actor in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

They had a "muzzle-loading biathlon" (cross-country skiing and muzzle-loading shooting). One of the plays in our repertory was "She Stoops to Conquer" and I was playing Tony Lumpkin.

I got permission from the theatre and competed in 18th century wig and costume. I'm not very good at skiing, but I did win a medal as the second best shot in the competition.

So there is indeed a connection between skiing and the 19th century.

-- Jeff

3:22 PM

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 ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Warboss Green Bases. . .

I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion. In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life. Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted. Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green. Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs. The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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