Skip to main content

As I was saying. . .

 


Two quick progress shots of the first half and a bit more of the 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  Still lots to do, but they are beginning to look like something.

Contrary to anything you might have heard, I have not fallen from the edge of the earth, but have been frightfully busy with work-related stuff and a bit of painting lethargy these last couple of months.  Still, little by little the first 16 of 30 Saxon cuirassiers are taking shape, more or less as the Plötz Cuirassiers, which had lovely green facings and standard.

About two weekends back I decided it was time to clean and (re-) organize my painting area, which had become kind of, well, grungy in recent months.  Cobwebs, dead spiders, dust and such.  Blagh!

I also put up large pieces of white poster board to bounce and diffuse light from my three painting lamps around the one end of the built-in table/desk area where I have done most of my painting since we moved into our house back in December 2015.  Although it was not until January 2016 that I was able to get unpacked and back to work on the armies of Stollen and Zichenau.

Fast-forward to early 2024, and I was finally able to find a large, clear acrylic "in-progress" box to keep dust off of whichever unit is currently under the brush, yet still keep them visible from across the room when I am otherwise engaged.  You know, as a reminder along the lines of, "Hey, Stokes!  Yeah, you!  Over here!  We need our neck stocks and mustaches done next!"

In any event, I hope to spend an hour or so this (Sunday) evening before joining the Grand Duchess for some yoga before bedtime.  She has practiced for 20+ years while I have only recently joined her.  But there is no denying how relaxed one feels after even just a quarter hour of focused stretching, breathing, and quiet.  

I know, I know.  It'll be all tinkling crystals, mournful whale sounds, and bean sprouts next!  Fear not.  We enjoyed a delightful Middle Eastern meat and vegetable dish whipped up by the Grand Duchess yesterday evening.

-- Stokes

 





Comments

Andy McMaster said…
Good progress there. And it's always good to clean the workbench once in a while.

I quite like the Eureka Saxons. I'm currently painting some of the dismounted dragoons as part of Von Donovan's Legion. Figures are a little bigger and chunkier than most of my Mindens/RSMs but not unduly so.

And when I see cavalry laid out like this I sometimes rue the decision to go for 12 figure units...

A

Popular posts from this blog

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

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...

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 ...