The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The Minden pioneers currently in progress with one coat of white acrylic gesso applied.  One more coat, and the painting can commence. S ome weeks.  Sigh.  Started off with a nasty cold and fever, which came on Saturday night last week and required cancelling two days of classes last Monday and Tuesday.  As much as I wanted simply to pull the covers over my head, tell the world to go to hell, and sleep though, there were about 50 undergrad papers to read, consider, and assign grades.  Then, the Grand Duchess left town midweek for another conference, or consulting gig (I can't keep 'em straight anymore), which meant that yours truly became solely responsible for coaxing the Young Master through his daily activities, taking him to and from school, meals, etc., etc.  I already do quite a bit of this everyday anyway, but when one becomes the only parent overseeing all of this stuff for several days, well. . .   Let's just say that single parents...

The Corps of Pioneers, all ready for base-coating and then painting. W ell, I managed to get the various tools and things glued into the hands of the two dozen Minden pioneers yesterday, as mentioned previously, and I'll apply the white gesso basecoat (two thin coats) on Saturday.  With any luck, I might be able to apply green to the bases, fleshtone, and gray to the eventually black hats on Sunday.  The reading and preparation for classes on Monday is a bit lighter this weekend, so completing a bit more at the painting table is a distinct possibility.  We'll see how things play out. Look very closely, and you'll spot those scratch-built facines in the hands of three figures in the right-hand company.  You'll also observe that I decided to give one company digging tools and the other wood-cutting implements.  Each company also has a wheelbarrow of appropriate 'stuff' to help set the scene whenever and wherever the Corps of Pioneers is deployed. ...

My Minden figures lack the dashing headgear worn by the fine pioneer fellow above, but the colors of his uniform are extremely pleasing to the eye.  When I came across this particular illustration a few evenings ago, I knew at once that I had found my inspiration as far as colors are concerned.  And by the way, the grenadier to his left also sports a most attractive uniform.  Hmmm. . .  I might just have to add a unit of those at some point. F inally managed to find a copy online of the illustration, which I found originally in one of my books on Prussian and Hanoverian SYW-era freikorps, and on which I'll base the uniforms for my own two dozen Minden pioneers.  Speaking of which, I just spent an enjoyable hour or so carefully cementing digging and chopping tools into their hot little hands as well as a ladder, a couple of balsa "boards," and a few scratch-built facines in miniature.   Yes, yes.  It has been a fairly idle afternoon here at ...

  The halfway point, more or less, of the gradually mustering 80-figure regiment has been reached. A fter various batches of student papers sucking up most available free time during the last couple of weeks or so, I have at last managed to apply the usual two coats of glossy acrylic varnish to the Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach contingent.  They don't look too bad if you'll pardon me saying so myself.   But now, it's time to address those two dozen or so Minden pioneers for the next two+ weeks before returning to the monster 80-figure regiment and the third batch of 20 RSM95 Prussians, slated to become the white-coated (with red facings, turnbacks, etc.) Saxe-Coburg contingent that was also part of the Ernestinisch Sachsen Regiment during the SYW period.  The Minden pioneers, for their part, are waiting to have various tools and implements cemented into their hands once I purchase a new tube of superglue gel at some point on Thursday, followed by the usual basec...

All ready and waiting for their basecoat of white acrylic gesso. . .  two companies of pioneers and a mounted officer, complete with loaded wheelbarrows and a bucket! J ust  a bit of time this morning before getting the Young Master up for preschool and then getting to work on some student papers and admin stuff myself.  There might be some skiing with the Grand Duchess this morning too on the fresh, powdery snow we had yesterday, but my lower back is giving me trouble, so we'll see.   Strained something yesterday morning while rinsing my face after shaving at the bathroom sink, and YOW!  It just goes to show you that even  with routine exercise and stretching, sometimes you turn or bend just the right way, and the unexpected pain takes your breath away.  It's much better this morning, but the skiing just might have to wait a day or two. Anyway, I spent a couple of hours at the painting table yesterday evening, preparing the Minden pione...

Just about ready for glossing, here is where things stand this morning with the current batch of 20 RSM95 figures.  Nothing fancy, and far from perfect show-piece painting, but not too bad either.  More important, they are almost finished! S ometimes, the stars line up and time spent at the painting table goes off without a hitch.  And that's how yesterday evening's two-hour session -- #8 for this particular batch of figures -- went.  Mostly.  I first touched up the rear of the shoulder belts where necessary after painting in the black ersatz pigtails and followed with a tiny, careful dab of white on the chests to suggest a bit of shirt peeking out from beneath the blue coats just below the red stocks.   Then, it was time to hold my breath and carefully line the hats with white 'tape'.  Only two minor slops, which were easy to fix with some very thin black afterwards, but I think the point of my Cottman #1 round has seen better days, an...