Frederick and von Seydlitz are done!!!

Here are the boys, fresh from the painting desk, as they dither about the Croats, who have emerged from a copse just behind them. Note the tree stump and discarded sword.

Fresh from the painting desk, submitted for your viewing pleasure, Friedrich II and Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz. The figures are by Minden Miniatures and were painted using a mix of Winsor-Newton alkyd oils and Citadel acrylics, mostly thin washes of each, but der Alte Fritz's horse was done with some pretty heavy drybrushing too. The groundwork was done with fine sand (given a dark brown wash when dry) and Woodland Scenics materials tacked down with two successive applications of acrylic matt medium. The tree stump began life as a twig from the front yard. The discarded sword and broken wagon wheel are spare RSM95 parts, gleaned from the ol' Box of Bits here in Zum Stollenkeller.

Here they are again, this time from the side, still deep in prognostication about the situation unfolding around them.

Here is a better shot from the front and closer in on a brighter part of the table.

I remember reading somewhere -- in Battlegames? Or maybe an old issue of Military Modelling? -- about photographing one's figures where it was stressed that ideally your figures must fill the frame and be well-lighted. Of the eight or so pictures I took, this one seems to be the very best. Whoops! I see something that needs touching up.

Young Master Paul and Miss Kitty were so pleased for Old Dad that they permitted me to take a photo of them too. The Young Master has become a HUGE ham and asks for his picture to be taken followed by repeated demands to see how he looks in the photographs. What have we done??!!

Here's an RSM Painting Update

Here's a picture illustrating my (S-L-O-W) progress with the second company of Stollen's Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers. You can see I'm doing things a bit differently this time, altering the painting process to keep it interesting basically. This evening, I'll do the white gaiters and, if that goes reasonably quickly, and time allows, the red breeches. Still lots to do, but I like the way these fine fellows are shaping up along side the completed 1st company that's standing in formation just off camera, to the left here. Until tonight then!

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Having a "No Day". . .

F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day." A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day. I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers. These have stood waiting untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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