The Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Contingent Is Glossed!

The halfway point, more or less, of the gradually mustering 80-figure regiment has been reached.

After 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 basecoat of white acrylic gesso planned for Friday evening and a second coat on Saturday morning. With any luck, I can start the actual painting on Saturday evening or Sunday and get them done before too much time elapses.

On that note, I've found a very pretty green, yellow, and tan uniform -- apparently worn by the pioneers of Von Scheither's Freicorps -- on which to base my own pioneers. But more of that anon. It's late, and I'm wiped out. Time for some Z's following a glass of chocolate milk in the kitchen.

--Stokes

And here's a close-up of the completed and freshly glossed Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach boys. I'm pleased with the way the drummer and his drum turned out this time. A light touch and a steady hand enabled me to finish up both with very few mistakes to touch up later. That's not always the case with musicians, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Comfortable Rules for Games of Glossy Toy Soldiers in the Old Style. . .

Introduction A Tangled Mass is a game of toy soldiers in the old style, set more or less in the middle part of the 18 th century. Our miniature forces are colorful and, we hope, glossy. Although the latter, like so much else, is up to the discretion of the players. But it is the modeling, brushwork, and unit organization of hobby greats like Gilder, Mason, and Robinson that provide our visual touchstone and continue to inform "the look of the thing" even now. Tabletop armies in A Tangled Mass can be historic, semi-historic, or whimsically fictitious, but the more flags and mounted officers, the better. Formations, while bearing some resemblance to their historic precedents, are generic: column, line, or extended order for lighter types. Squares, while possible, are less common than during all of that later Napoleonic madness with its guillotines and Spanish ulcers. And we'll simply choose not to mention patent leather dancing pumps, or that unseemly bedr

Prussian 3rd Garrison Regt. Update. . .

Still a few small things to do, including apply fleshtone to a left hand on an officer that I somehow missed at some point plus lace on the drummers and officers , but we're very close to the glossing stage. L ots of painstaking work to clean up edges, highlight folds, and touch up various bits and pieces the last few evenings. My trusty little Sony Cybershot, I fear, has gone to that big electronics place in the sky and no longer seems to be working. Well, I've had it since 2013, and small electronics don't last forever, so I cannot complain. With that little hiccup in mind, I snapped today's shot with my iPhone, brightened, and cropped it in Fotor before sharing it here. Again, the blue is not quite so bright in reality, but the auto-improve, or whatever they call it, makes for nice bright photographs in which everything shows up. Not long before these are done, and The Young Master was suitably please when I asked him to have a look a few minutes ago. -- Sto

A Break in the Radio Silence. . .

S till plugging away at the 60 or so Wied Infantry currently on the painting bench as and when work and family life permit. Using three different whites for the clothing, shoulder belts, and officers' wigs plus trying some Army Painter quick washes. My friend and one-time online magazine co-editor Greg Horne (the man behind The Duchy of Alzheim , still one of my blog and hobby touchstones) suggested I give washes a try a month or two ago, and I think he might be onto something. Admittedly, he suggested the Citadel contrast range, but what I purchased eventually is in that general direction. I am especially pleased with the Army Painter flesh wash, which picks out the facial details on the Minden figures very nicely. I've applied it on top of my usual Windsor & Newton alkyd oil fleshtone and then highlighted the brows, bridges of noses, cheeks, chins, lower lips, and knuckles/thumbs the next day with more of the fleshtone. Suddenly, and with relative ease, my paint

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog