The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  Nearly there with the white highlights on the third and final batch of the Anhelt-Zerbst Regiment this Sunday morning at the end of March. T he Young Master and Grand Duchess are away for a few days visiting friends and relatives in our old stomping grounds of Central Illinois since our progeny has his Spring Break this coming week.  It's a whirlwind trip though.  They'll be back this evening, and he has his wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday.  Sadly, ahead of the Easter holiday, so the Easter Bunny will have to bring our Paul a variety of soft things to enjoy (cups of chocolate pudding/custard?) since chewing will be a challenge for a few days while his mouth heals up So, Bad Dad has been free to hang out down here in Zum Stollenkeller a bit more than usual with coffee, the cats, and paintbrushes in hand.  I've managed numerous sessions in the chair since Thursday evening to tackle the many remaining tiny details on the final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment...

Y ou thought I'd forget, didn't you?  Here's a quick work in progress shot of where things stand with the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment on the morning of March 19th.  Black, red, and (most of) the brown highlights added.  Cords and finials await a light dry-brush to brighten up the gold which received a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone a couple of evenings ago.  One bayonet has been bumped and needs to be straightened.  NCO's polearm needs a dab of brown near his hat to touch it up.   But then. . .  It's onto the white.  I'll start with the waistcoat and belt around the figures' waists this evening.  Breeches will follow, then the shoulder belts, and finally the coats themselves.  Time-consuming since I like to do this through a series of almost washes for a more natural blend built up from the light gray undercoat to almost white highlights on the fronts of shoulders. upper backs, and anywhere else it seems likely that ...

  My usual trusty placeholder until today's later Kodak Moment.  Be sure to check back later! N ot much progress to report during the last seven days.  But after a busy week, it was back to the painting desk for a couple of three (my late grandfather's expression) sessions in the chair.  Time to finish the visible hair, queues, and mustache or two. For these, I decided to try a couple of the six or seven Army Painter Speed Paints I ordered back in January following the Christmas holidays.  We can blame Rudy at the Culloden Painting Studio , who uses quite a few of these and has really impressive results.  But then he is a professional with younger eyes than yours truly at this point. Anyway, I went with the Ruddy Fur for the hair on all of the figures and the Grim Black, both applied at full strength, for the queues, both applied with a #1 Cottman round that still has its good point.  These water color brushes also work well for miniature painting I th...

  While much painting remains to be accomplished, the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment takes on a pleasing appearance with the addition of highlights to the black and red areas of the miniatures. E xcept for Tuesday evening, I've been spending 45-60 minutes a day, maybe a bit more, carefully highlighting the black areas and now the reds on the current and final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  Almost finished with the latter this Saturday morning.  By the way, for these highlights, I have used my usual 'Charcoal' by Ceramcoat and Vallejo 'Red.'  Sadly, our quiet Spring vacation is coming to an end, which means I need to spend some time today organizing a few things for next week when classes reconvene.  And some (at least) of the students return to campus for class on Monday morning, although any break seems to accordion out in either direction to be almost twice what has been officially designated by the university and put on the calendar. ...

  I returned to the painting desk for about an hour Sunday evening to retouch a few of the light brown water bottle straps across the front of several chests and add a bit of Army Painter red wash in that crevice between the left lapel and musket stock.  As my Welsh step-father might say, they're starting to look very smart. M arch 1st.  The first weekend that bookends our spring vacation at my university.  And like clockwork, I came down with the same nasty cold and slight fever the Young Master brought home earlier last week. The very day before I was due to leave for my last solo ski trip of the season up north.  Blast!   Everything was packed and ready to load into the car early Friday morning for the slightly more than two-hour drive north.  But I realized about 10:30 Thursday evening that I felt rotten, and it would be a mistake to proceed as planned.  Sigh. Felt even crummier Friday morning with chills, nasal congestion, and sore throa...