Nearing the Finish Line!

I managed to snatch an hour or so last night to work on one half of Colonel O’Malley’s grenzers. Not quite there yet, but only the brass bits (like the trigger guards!) remain to complete. I’m particularly pleased with all of the yellow lace added to the drummer’s coat. Blame that on Jim (Alte Fritz) Perky, whose own drummers are impressively painted, so I thought I'd give it a shot myself.

So, if all goes according to plan, I should have the painting completed on everything by tomorrow evening, leaving Sunday for the protective coat of Future floor polish, which is very rapid to apply. I'll post a photo or two of the finished battalion then.

Thinking ahead, let's look at what's coming up in the painting queue here at Stollen Central. Quite a few things actually. You know, no rest for the wicked and all that. ;-) First, I'll take a small break and paint up a few RSM95 generals, which the Grand Duchess presented to me for Easter this passed March. That should only take a few days or so.

Then, it's on to that battalion of 32 or so Revell 1/72 Prussians, who have been lurking quietly in the background of recent photographs here. These will become an engineer/pioneer/sapper battalion, organized according to Young and Lawford's rules for such troops in Charge! I'm pretty set on painting these guys in mid-blue uniforms with, in all likelihood, red facings.

Later in the summer, I'll get back to the cavalry and try my hand at 30 Revell 1/72 Prussian hussars. Somewhere in here too, I hope to get a gaming table set up and painted in my grassy green meadow latex color. Keep your fingers crossed, because I'd like to christen Zum Stollenkeller properly by hosting a small game with a few fellow Illinois/Wisconsin gamers of some renown before school starts again in late summer. We'll see.

By that time, September should be here, and I am determined to finish the conversions on those Zvezda 1/72 Saxon Napoleonic cuirassiers, to which I've been adding Revell Austrian infantry heads in three cornered hats. Actually started this process a couple of years ago and did 12 of them but got diverted with other things. So, converting and the painting these will take priority for a few weeks.

Finally, there are about 80 RSM95 Prussian fusiliers, a Christmas gift last year from the Grand Duchess, which I'll need to start by mid-Autumn, so that I can finish these by year's end. These fine fellows will join Colonel von Finknottle's beloved regiment of "Newts", the two units forming the backbone of Zichenau's line infantry force. As such, my fusiliers will get white coats and breeches with facing and turnback colors TBA. Maybe a light blue? Against the white coats, that color seems like it would be striking.

Hmmm. It looks like that's my painting shedule for the next six months or so. A full dancecard to say the least. I'd better get cracking!