Zum Stollenkeller is drying out!

. . . ok, maybe to quite to the extent of the Namibian Desert pictured above, but we're getting there. I've run and emptied the dehumidifier almost continuously since the water seeped into the basement a few days ago. The water has receded and the (luckily) cheap carpet is drying out little by little. The cooler, more arid weather has undoubtedly helped things out a little bit too. No unpleasant smell, so I think we're almost out of the woods, though whether I have time to set up my table again before I leave for Berlin next Tuesday is doubtful A number of little things to take care of between now and then, as is always the case before you leave town, but there you go.

I did manage to do some painting for about two hours last night -- tan undercoats on those final 20 RSM Prussian fusiliers -- the final draft of Zichenau's 7th (Von Flickenhoffer's) Fusiliers. Later, I watched the DVD that arrived from NetFlix in the mail yesterday. "Beatniks" (1960), a really, really. . . REALLY bad teenage exploitation film, capitalizing on the fear off disrespectful juvenile delinquents at the end of the 1950s. "Beatgirl" (1960) with Bardot look-alike Gillian Hills, Adam Faith, Christopher Lee, and Oliver Reed was much better when I watched in last Saturday night. Can you tell? I've been enjoying old juvenile delinquent films lately. It's just for kicks Daddy-O!

But anyway, tonight I'll finish up the tan undercoat on the fusiliers and get started applying the white topcoat. Probably won't get these all finished before I leave, but most of the time-consuming, tedious painting will be out of the way. When we return in early July, I'll finish these up (no more 80-figure regiments for a while) and move onto the 30-figure regiment of RSM Austrian cuirassiers, which has been waiting on the painting desk since last November. Somewhere in there I need to finish that third squadron of plastic Revell hussars too. And then I've got a 60-figure unit of Huzzah musketeers to paint, and then we'll see where that takes us.

Comments

littlejohn said…

Oh if I had a dollar for every basement flooding that threatened my game stuff...I'd be a rich man! I'm right there with you!

2:42 PM

Anonymous said…

You should move to Frankzonia--even the wine there is very dry.

6:04 PM

Anonymous said…

Oops. Frankszonia.

6:04 PM

Der Alte Fritz said…

Will you be watching "Reefer Madness" next? :)

7:24 PM

CWT said…

Water occasionally gets to my things too, if there's a heavy downpour. So annoying!

12:37 AM

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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