The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  A fter several sessions in the painting chair over 2.5 days (periodic rewards for getting through different batches of student collaborative projects. . . Whew!) , the basic red areas (Citadel Khorne Red) are finished.  Shoulder straps, lapels, cuffs, turnbacks, and the visible inner linings of officers' and ensigns' coats.  I used my trusty old Leow 000 sable [showing its age, sadly] and a brand new Cottman #1 round to carry out the reddening.  Time consuming and tedious in places, but it's done. Following another round of edge clean-up (Sunday evening?), I'll begin highlighting the black, brown, and red areas before moving onto highlights for the various white areas.   And then it will be time for the multitudinous details.   Still lots to do, but they're beginning to come together. For now, I'm off to join the Grand Duchess for a glass of wine upstairs by the hearth.  My eyes and mind are fried.  G'night everyone! -- Stokes

  O k, back in the painting chair for a about an hour or so the last couple of evenings to hold my breath, carefully paint in the very thin lighter colored water bottle straps (Ral Partha Leather Brown), teach the cats a few quietly muttered blue words, and then clean up various edges to tidy up this third and final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  All in all, a couple of good evenings' brushwork I think.  Relatively pleased so far.  At least they look a bit neater.  This evening, the plan is to begin applying Citadel Khorne Red (my preferred dark red undercoat) to the shoulder straps (easy), the turnbacks (tricky), and visible insides of the officers' coats (trickier).  This step might take a couple of evenings depending on how things progress.  Stay tuned! ------ The ol' body is bouncing back nicely from the recent three-day weekend of skiing up north.  Tired, well-worked muscles and joints, yes, but not stiff or sore, which I take as a goo...

A photograph of the main grooming contraption, a Piston Bully if I have it right, returning to the garage early Saturday morning this last weekend when I again escaped two hours north for three days of cross-country skiing. T ime to get myself back to the painting bench this evening (post-ski trip) from some more brushwork on those Anhalt-Zerbst infantry.  Probably the very thin leather brown water bottle straps first and foremost.  If that goes well, then maybe I'll finish the evening's session with something easier, cleaning up a few edges around shoes on the green bases.  We'll see how it goes.   The following details my most recent jaunt up north for an extended weekend of cross-country skiing.  Feel free to skip if that's not your cup of tea. ------------ M anaged to get a few shots early Saturday morning (Valentine's Day) of the main snow grooming contraption at the end of its morning run along all 35km+ of trails at  Forbush Corner Nordic Center...

  B asic brown areas (Vallejo Chocolate Brown) about finished except for the drum and a few additional bits.  Time permitting, I'll finish these this evening before cleaning up various edges with my usual Quaker Gray undercoat.  If that goes quickly, I realize that I need to touch up the green bases around more than a few shoes.  But I've also gotta pack my bags and the car. Tomorrow it's another sojourn north early in the day for a couple of cross-country skiing clinics Saturday with a guest coach (some kind of former champion in the sport), who, it turns out lives not that far from us in the Lansing, Michigan area.  Should be fun since one of my usual coaches is also signed up for these same two sessions.  He's a good guy originally from Pennsylvania (like yours truly). Back to real life by late Sunday afternoon (sigh) for a couple of more weeks before Spring Break.  With, hopefully, one more trip north for some late season skiing before cleaning, st...

  B etween work commitments and time skiing, either solo, or with the Grand Duchess, I have managed to find some time for painting too.  The basic black areas -- hats, cartridge pouches, shoes/gaiters, and a few scabbards -- are now finished.  For interested parties, Vallejo Black was the color used for this particular series of steps. Little by little, the figures are taking shape.  Browns are planned for this (Saturday) evening after supper.   Trying out a few recently purchased Army Painter Speed Paints for this step.   And of course, a few touch-ups around the right shoes and beneath the left shoes to cover a few misplace splotches of black and/or cover tiny spots of gray basecoat on several figures.  Using  my trusty 000 sable of many years for that to reduce the risk of further mistakes and muttered blue language you understand.   As a reminder, this the final third of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. In the meantime, anot...

  B ack from another skiing weekend up north, I settled into the painting chair Monday evening for about 35 minutes of very basic brushwork.  While I don't always start with the green bases (typically Citadel Warboss Green), much of the time it makes sense to include these as one of the early steps along with flesh areas, blacks, and browns before moving further into the painting process. Single coat coverage over light gray basecoats is usually not an issue with Citadel paints.  But I see this morning that another coat of green is in order, so I'll tackle that quickly this evening before moving onto the black areas: hats, cartridge pouches, shoes/gaiters, and finally the few sword scabbards among the officers, ensigns, NCO, and possibly the drummer (I never remember). ------------ The skiing weekend was amazing by the way.  Besides my own activities Friday, Saturday, and half the day Sunday, I assisted with the 5k race Saturday morning.  There was also a much f...