A Saturday Schaumburg-Lippe Painting Update. . .

Just a few buttons and touch-ups to do before glossing. I must admit to feeling very pleased with the way the white highlights atop the light gray undercoat have turned out. Kind of inexact washes, which give a nice, slightly variegated look to the figures.

The first 32 musketeers for my version of the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Infantry are just about done save for the buttons, a few small touch-ups here and there, and the usual two coats of gloss before basing.

But no rest for the wicked! I'm getting ahead of myself. Still another 16 musketeers, three musicians, several officers and NCOS, and the colonel's horse before the regiment can take the field. And the flags of course.

Parenthetically, wouldn't that be a terrific name for an English pub in a village somewhere? 'The Colonel's Horse.' It almost screams Midsomer Murders, Richard Jury, or Lord Peter Wimsey. Digression seems to be a way of life around The Grand Duchy of Stollen lately.

As I was saying. . . This weekend, I'll press on with the next 16 figures. A light gray acrylic color blended into acrylic gesso (combining the basecoat and darker undercoat), Citadel Warboss Green bases, and fleshtone depending on available free time. Possible thunderstorms are forecast, so just maybe. . .

But what's all of this about buttons?

Well, tiny details like buttons are not really necessary to paint, but they do catch the light, really adding to the glitter and glitz of horse and musket era figures. No doubt about it. It just seems right for mid-18th century figures and Napoleonics in full dress somehow. Plus, it seems a shame not to lavish a bit of extra time and care on castings as nice as Minden, Fife & Drum, and Crann Tara.

Anyway, you cannot see it in this photograph, but I quickly added button color (I cheat a bit and use gold and silver instead of brass and pewter to help these show up better) to a single test figure last night before retiring for the evening, and the results were extremely pleasing. It's odd how that last little bit of brushwork brings figures almost to life. Saturday is button day. And then the touch-ups.

Why on earth should you paint the buttons? Because they are there.

-- Stokes

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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