Time to Quit Fooling Around. . .

The almost finished Hanseatic flags and standard bearers in question. These were the town flags for Bremen (L.) and Elbing (R.). I like them very much, and so borrowed both into my semi-fictitious setting. They strike me as just the thing for a regiment based on the infantry of the period from Hamburg, Bremen, and Luebeck.

I finally got down to business this afternoon and painted two Hanseatic flags, which will, after glossing, join my 60-strong regiment of RSM95 Hanseatic infantry that I completed back in, oh, late 2011 I think. They still need a couple of coats of acrylic gloss, but I'm calling them almost done save for a few final touch-ups.

This (Saturday) evening, I managed to return down here to Zum Stolenkeller, where I assembled two Minden Austrian guns that have been floating around here since 2014 (?) and the two French 8pdr. guns given to me this Christmas by the Grand Duchess. I also glued a number of artillery tools into the hands of several French, but soon to be Lauzun's Legion, gunners. All in all, not a bad way to get back into the painting and modelling chair after too many months away. Onward and upward as they say.

-- Stokes

Sunday Morning. . .

Thank you everyone or your kind comments about the flags above. I typically copy files culled from the web into MS Word, resize, print, cut out, and attach them to flagpoles. Then, I carefully paint in my own colors and try to add some subtle highlights here and there before glossing everything. It is not a fast process by any stretch.

This morning, however, I am fired with enthusiasm, and if I can get through preparations for Monday's class quickly enough, I hope to return to the painting table to tackle another pair of replacement flags that have been sitting around for a year now. Time to get these done! I can then move on, in good conscience, to all of the cavalry waiting in the wings. Yet more painting backlog that should have had considerably more attention during 2017.

Still tinkering with online photo editing tools via Pixlr (Photoshop Elements is better, and I really need to purchase an updated version). This time, I have used Pixlr's 'Sharpen' and 'Denoise' to get a finer, better defined photograph of ol' Fred and his good buddy von Seydlitz.

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

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!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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