The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The Minden Bosniaks mid-glossing, after the first coat.  Hmmm.  Mid-glossing.  Sounds like a village just up the road from Badger's Drift on Midsomer Murders. W ell, we are nearing the end of the Bosniak tunnel at last.  I've spent the afternoon applying the first coat of acrylic gloss with #3 and #5 rounds.  Pretty spiffy if you'll pardon my saying.   As always, gloss varnish makes the colors pop even more.  I am especially pleased with the black kaftans highlighted in very dark blue, the red with scarlet highlights, and the horse coats.  Not quite Doug Mason ca. 1983, but they'll work well enough for me.   What's that?  About 800 Minden Austrian dragoons thundering toward the painting table, you say?  Come, come now.  It's really just 36 riders and horses to paint.  There will be times, I am certain, where it FEELS like 800 of them.   Ok.  Enough chit-chat, everyone.  Looks like ...

Black lance stripes done?  Check!  Not too bad if you'll permit me to say so.  Just a few touch-ups and glossing left, and then I can begin in earnest with all of those Austrian dragoons shown here a few days ago. S ometimes, you just have to shut your mouth and get on with it.  Taking my own advice for a change -- Go on!  A little mockery and derision is good for the soul.  The Grand Duchess would likely suggest I deserve it. -- I slipped into the painting chair for just over an hour yesterday evening for the sole purpose of painting lots and lots of black stripes onto and around all but two of the lance shafts pictured above.  I just finished the  remaining pair a short while ago (Tuesday afternoon about 14:30 EDT), and here is where things stand with those 14 Minden Bosniaks at long last.   We're almost there, folks!  Just a few small touch-ups and the two coats of acrylic gloss. Interestingly, I am always of two minds ...

36 unpainted Minden Austrian dragoons stand ready for summer painting. M any of us in the wargaming world are familiar with those two maladies associated with the hobby.  Do I refer to painter's elbow or deteriorating eyesight?  No.  I'm talking about those other two afflictions.  Come on.  You know what I mean.  Well-laid plans and butterflies.  Please allow me to say just a few words about each. As far as plans go, some in the hobby -- those rare creatures -- make detailed plans and carry them out without a hitch.  Masters of focus, project management, and sheer painting output.  God bless 'em, those lucky so and so's. Then, there are those of us, who despite the best of intentions, never quite manage to see their plans come to fruition.  At least not as rapidly as we'd like.  Which leads us to our next related point for today. Often, it is those wargaming butterflies that complicate whatever picture we might carry in ...