Final Two Single-based ADC's Finished. . . It's Wagon Time!

An RSM95 cuirassier officer -- Prussian or Austrian, I can never remember which -- and an RSM95 dragoon officer that comes, I think, from the French range of SYW figures.  The horses are by RSM95 too.

Alrighty!  I've now completed all eight of the singly based aides de camp, a mix of various and sundry RSM95, Fife&Drum, and Minden rider and horse figures.  Time now to dive headlong into the various wagons, carts, and teams now littering my painting area.  I've got a new bottle of thick, slower curing CA glue from the local model railway shop just for that purpose.

The figures shown here, at any rate, are based on the Saxon 'Von Arnim' Cuirrassiers and 'Von Leipziger' Dragoons uniforms worn by officers in these regiments as presented in Dr. Stephen Sommerfield's book on the subject -- The Saxon Army of the Austrian War of Succession and the Seven Years War (2011) along with the usual bit of artistic (??!!) license.  

These figures aren't the greatest work I've done, but they are finished.  The painting is a bit sloppy, and that wasn't entirely helped by the castings, which are a bit on the crude side, especially where the riders, and in particular the dragoon, are concerned.  While the poses are dynamic enough, the figures are a bit rough around the edges.  Still, they should look pretty good on the tabletop with hundreds of their fellows.  It is that mass effect and spectacle we are after regardless of our chosen figure scales/sizes and set-ups, right?

Most of the painting this time was done with thinned Citadel acrylic hobby paints although the basic horseflesh, black items, and fleshtone were done with my usual mix of Winsor&Newton Grifffin alkyd oils and Liquin Original.  Some lining was then added with my almost 20-year old 000 sable and watered down dark brown and black, to help define a few areas better.  I also actually gave them a hint of facial features too, they are officers after all, which looks kind of nice although I wouldn't think of doing this for a large cavalry or infantry unit of 30-60+ figures.  A bit too time consuming and nerve wracking.  Whew!  Talk about holding your breath and moving your fingers like a cardiac or brain surgeon. 

This evening, the Grand Duchess and Young Master permitting, I might just get back down here to Zum Stollenkeller, to begin assembling wagons and carts.

-- Stokes


A short while later. . .

Wagons ho!  Sounds like a bawdy sequel to Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles or something.  Still, it looks like my work is cut out for me, but it will be a nice diversion while adding to the overall and ongoing Grand Duchy of Stollen project.  Once everything is assembled, though, I expect painting to go fairly smoothly.  The horse teams for the Fife&Drum pontoon and powder wagons are in the small ziplock baggies at left along with a number of Minden drovers and drivers.