The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Photos to follow, but yours truly is very exited to report that the final nine Minden hussars are just about finished.  Yes, almost!   Very early yesterday morning, I applied metallics to things like stirrups, carbine barrels/firelocks, and sabre hilts.  I also applied two coats of green to the base of each figure yesterday evening following supper and Young Master Paul's bedtime.  Only yellow vandyking and back horse furniture left to do, plus a few inevitable touch-ups, and then all that's left to do is apply two coats of Future/Klear acrylic flow finish to protect and impart that all-important glossy finish.   Then, it's time to get onto thos 60 RSM Prussian musketeers, to be painted up as Hanseatic (Luebeck) infantry.  I'm really looking forward to that because it seems so easy in comparison to the hussars!  I'll eventually tackle another regiment of 25/30mm hussars -- maybe in two-three years -- but for now, it's back to simpler unif...

Norman Rockwell's 1917 work "Cousin Reginald Catches the Thanksgiving Turkey."  While I usually find Mr. Rockwell's paintings too cute and rosy-cheeked for my taste, this one is kind of funny. Happy Thanksgiving 2011 to all American visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen wherever in the world you might find yourself.  The fetching Grand Duchess Sonja, Young Master Paul, and myself would like to extend our wishes for a peaceful, happy, family, and friend-filled holiday weekend. 

Here is one photograph of the three figures in question.  From left to right: A wash of Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil Cadmium red; A wash of Cottman Watercolor Cadmium red; A wash of Speedball Acrylic Scarlet Red.  In each case, I applied an undercoat of Humbral orange enamel before applying the red wash on top.   By popular request, here is a close-up of the three test figures.  I now see a few areas in need of touching up, but they are basically done. After some time spent adding more details to the last nine Minden hussars' horses, yesterday evening, I got to work on those first three RSM95 test figures.  I'm fairly well pleased with how things have goone so far, but I am leaning toward the sample at far left, whose red coat was the result of  a wash of Winsor-Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil (Cadmium Red) over an undercoat of Orange Humbrol.  The orange shows through the red just enough give the coat an orange-ish scarlet hue. The middle figure,...

After a pleasant 90 minutes or so spent working with those glorious hussars yesterday evening, it was time to apply those two coats of white to my three test figures.  In the picture above, you'll notice the different mediums I'll be testing as well as a tin of Humbrol orange enamel, which I've been advised by a couple of you will help to yield a deeper, richer red once the washes have been applied.  This evening (Sunday), we'll get started in earnest. Later. . . Finally, after years of asking, "Whatever happened to him?" I've stumbled on a recently started blog by THE Doug Mason .  Please click on the highlighted link to be transported to his blog, which, I assure you, features considerable and impressive painting and conversion work like that we remember lo those many years ago.   Many of you, of a certain age, will recall the numerous photos of Mr. Mason's 25mm figures that once graced the pages of hoby magazines like Miniature Wargames and War...

Thanks to those of you who offered the benefit of your painting experience and suggestions via your comments on yesterday's posting.  While finishing the final nine Minden hussars, I've allowed my mind to wander -- always a dangerous thing -- and think ahead a bit.  I've decided to conduct a painting experiment of sorts and returned a short while ago from my local arts and crafts supply store.  My small purchase included a small bottle of Speedball super pigmented acrylic ink in Scarlet Red along with a tiny tube  of Cotman watercolor pigment in Cadmium Red.  I already had a tube of Winsor and Newton Griffin alkyd oil in Cadmium Red here in Zum Stollenkeller in my box of oil tubes.   So, onto the experiment.  This evening after supper and Young Master Paul's bedtime, what I'll do is basecoat three of those RSM musketeers with Liquitex acrylic white paint (two coats).  Tomorrow, once dry, I'll begin.  One figure will get a wash of th...

No rest for the wicked!  And while I still have a few final touches to put on the last nine Minden hussars, a number of my wargaming friends and acquaintances around the globe have proposed a second painting challenge -- November 16, 2011 to January 16, 2012 -- in which we each pledge to paint a particular number of figures during the two months.  The precise number, period, level of detail, etc. is left open to each one of us, and we are each free to modify that if time and personal/professional commitments dictate it. All of which is a rather long winded way of saying that I have pledged to complete a unit of 60 RSM95 Prussian musketeers.  And they will be painted in the 1750s-era uniform pictured above, wearing the three-cornered hat of musketeers, because that's what I have on hand, rather than a version of the grenadiers' mitre cap.   So, I spent some pleasant downtime yesterday evening in bed with a writing pad and pencil, figuring out how I could reduc...

Breaking news!  Henry Hyde's delightful wargaming magazine Battlegames will rise again.  Just click on the highlighted link to read all the details at Henry's BG website.  Cue the martial French Napoleonic, please.  Pour L'Empereur might be a good choice.  Brandy all around, I think, and a hearty cyber toast to Henry and Battlegames !

A slow week painting-wise, but I've made good progress on the final nine figures in that ongoing 30-figure regiment since Friday evening.  Sill lots to do, but the back of the project is broken, and my motivation is reasonably high to get these darn things finished and move on to the final infantry unit in Phase One of the Grand Duchy of Stollen Project.   Anyway, grandiose language aside, you can see where I am with the little darlings as of Sunday afternoon here in the American Midwest.  If the mood strikes me this evening after supper and Young Master Paul's bedtime, I might do the white markings on the horses' legs and muzzles plus the leather girths and maybe, just maybe, the stirrup leathers.  Of course, I'm deviating a bit from my usual painting routine, but it sometimes helps to do this when the tedium demon strikes and does his worst to derail the painting of a large unit.

The weekend fun and jokes of my previous post this morning aside, let's not forget those men and women who have served their countries, the injured and the fallen, both past and present, in conflicts around the globe.  Please take a moment today to remember them.

So, time to shed the professional clothing, put on some more comfortable duds, and hit those last nine hussars on the painting desk!  Oh, and the above photo, kindly taken by the Grand Duchess, was snapped of yours truly this morning as I returned home from campus, modelling a recently acquired vintage tweed overcoat by Pendleton.  The coat is really heavy, so it has to be cold enough to wear it comfortably, which it finally is in our neck of the woods.  27 degress Fahrenheit early this morning.  Can the first snowfall of the season be far off?

Charging full steam towards the table edge: 21 Finished Minden hussars against a slightly nicer, neutral background.  Their uniform is based on that worn by the hussars of Lauzun's Legion.  45 today!  Hmmm. . .  Doesn't feel that different from 44.  Only a couple of occasional gray hairs spotted in the last few months.  No creaky joints just yet, so it's not too bad even if life is, chronologically, about half-way over.  I should still manage to finish the basic Grand Duchy of Stollen project -- two Sittangbad-sized 25-30mm tabletop forces -- before it's time to think about final changes to the will, long-term geriatric care, and funeral plots.  Might even get to play a few more games with the whole shebang too! All kidding aside, it feels good to be alive as my maternal grandfather 'Dave' used to say.  Young Master Paul is now walking a lot and crawling/scooting much less in the matter of only a few days.  Funny how quickly that ha...