Red Facings and Turnbacks Finally Finished!

Here's where we stand now with the second squadron of (Germanic) horse grenadiers in cuirasses and bearskins. That's not a warped base in the rear row, but rather a hardened dollop of super glue dripped onto the cutting mat ten or more years ago that causes the slight lean of one particular pair of cavalry figures and mounts.

Very quiet here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen during these last couple of weeks. The usual encroachments of life into free, uninterrupted hobby time you understand.

It's pointless cataloging the various impediments to painting since school began again a month ago. There has to be an easier way, but, as yet, I have not figured it out. As lamented any number of times here before, by the time The Young Master is tucked in at 8:30 in the evenings, I simply want to collapse into bed myself and not do anything but read or binge on the latest British or Australian TV series that the Grand Duchess and I watch via Netflix or Amazon.

In any case, I have managed at last to get the 'red' distinctions finished on these 14 figures plus the usual retouching of the blues and white shoulder belts after the fact. I think I'll tackle the white wigs and queues next with an undercoat of light tan followed by a sparing highlight of white on top of that before coming back to the white straps around and atop the valises at the back of the saddles.

Still not feeling like the back of the current project has been broken yet, but we're getting there. At some point, I'll need to pull up my socks, tighten my belt, and simply get on with attempting a dapple grey for the trumpeter. This particular horse has been in its undercoat of medium-dark gray for quite a few weeks now without anything further being done to it. It's high time to do something about that.

-- Stokes

Comments

Steve J. said…

I empathise with you on often not having the energy nor inclination to paint once all the family stuff is finished at the end of the day. We just have to be patient and wait for those times when the muse is upon us.

12:45 AM

Big Andy said…

Sometimes painting figure after you have spent most of the day up to your armpits in the little lead gits can be a bit of a trial- which is probably one reason why I'm a slow painter but the other reason is because I'm a slow panter. It is nice to see units growing though

4:21 AM

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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