The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  S till must touch up the edges of the green bases, hit the places most likely to be touched with another spot of the Liquitex acrylic high gloss varnish (suggested to me years ago in a surprise email from Mike Siggins), and retouch one of the officers' chin and right cheek, but we're just about there with these 16 figures and horses.   Not my best work, admittedly, but they'll do nicely at arm's length.  Although I don't think the likes of Doug Mason and Phil Robinson have anything to worry about.  ;-)  When I return to the second batch of 14 Saxon cuirassiers, the facing color will be different, and I'll vary the color of the narrower right shoulder strap, opting for a leathery brown.  Might actually use a Saxon standard for those too, but we'll see when we get there.  Time now to move on to the 15 Croats lurking in the background.  That will probably have to wait until next week since most of my spare time this week will be spent preparin...

  The three of us skiing outside of Gaylord, Michigan in January 2023.  An amazing day with ideal temperatures, near perfect trail grooming and glide, exploring a new network of trails through the North Michigan woods.  My wife even got to try out -- some might say absconded with -- my new skis that day and approved of the purchase/two-year wait for them to arrive from the Madshus factory in Norway.  Ski camber does eventually wear out with use, so it was time to upgrade after 20+ years on the original pair, purchased at G Sport in downtown Trondheim way back in December 1999.  The pair in question has become my rock skis for less than ideal conditions although they still wax up quite well.   W ell, here we are.  Another Saturday, and a busy weekend in store.  But that's ok given most of the activities on the agenda.  On the toy soldier front, glossing will commence in earnest later this evening for those 16 Saxon cuirassiers. If all goes...

  A lmost finished!  Just a few more, small, extremely minor bits to touch-up before glossing.  But I managed to tackle a few more of these yesterday afternoon.   A second such session in the painting chair followed during which I printed, trimmed, and attached the standard to the flagpole after a coat of varnish to protect the computer printer inks.  The evening saw a third session to highlight a few folds here and there on the flag, using some slightly lighter green washes of the facing highlight, which, to my eyes at least, makes it look a bit more like wrinkled silk flapping in the breeze. Now, although these Eureka figures are sold as Saxon cavalry, and the uniform is based on that worn by the von  Plötz Cuirassiers -- Uniform details gleaned from Summerfield, Kronoskaf, and a few additional sources. -- I gave them one of David Morfitt's recent generic Austrian cuirassier standards.  David does yeoman's work with his carefully researched and...

My cheerful painterly picture placeholder (borrowed from somewhere on the web) until I have another Kodak moment to share.   F inishing those 16 Saxon cuirassiers this weekend come hell, or high water!  And after only almost a year.  I know, I know. Spent a very pleasant hour or so early yesterday evening looking over each figure and horse, several of which required no attention while a few others did.  Mostly tiny touch-ups to sword blades and/or scabbards along with some very fine lining using a dark Army Painter wash to define the shoulder wings of the trumpeter and kettle drummer.   In a few instances, the painterly errors were so tiny that I decided to ignore them.  After all we must cling to the few threads of rational thought left to us, right?  Mulled wine and Yatzi by the hearth with the Grand Duchess followed later. Today (Saturday), just a couple of small touch-ups left and then the flag. Might even get 'em glossed by Sunday afternoo...

N ot perfect, but getting ever closer to completion.  Just a few touch-ups here and there tomorrow (Thursday), plus the flag, and then I can gloss 'em up, touch up the edges of the bases, and call 'em done.  A decent tabletop, wargames standard.  But for now, a New Year's Night game of Scrabble or Yatzi by the hearth with the Grand Duchess. -- Stokes