The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The most recently finished nine figures are those at the right rear of this photo -- eight troopers and an officer. 21 hussars down, nine to go!  Let's see how much ground I can cover by November 5th, which is the painting challenge deadline, established by mutual consensus between myself and several other wargaming friends around the globe.   At the moment, the figures in question have been given their basecoats of three or four different shades of Humbrol glossy yellows, tans and browns.  Tonight, I slop oil washes over these and set the figures aside to dry for 24 hours.  Then, it's on to flesh and hair on the troopers before applying a white undercoat to those areas earmarked for later coats of red and light blue.  And then lots and lots of yellow. . .  braiding, facings, girdles, vandyking, etc., etc. Here's another shot of the same formation, taken with the camera sitting on the table before the figures.  It almost looks like ...

  A windmill model completed here at Stollen Central during May-June 2011. At long last, I'll wrap up painting on the bridles, reins, and martingales for those nine Minden hussars today, and then it's full steam ahead with the final group of nine figures/horses.  I must admit to feeling a bit pleased about the way these are coming along.  The batch I'm almost finished with has turned out even more nicely than the first dozen.  Watch for a photo here in the next day or so. In the meantime, here is a picture of a small side project I completed early in the summer.  This slightly underscale model windmill is based on a photograph of several old mills that now reside at an open-air folk museum in Estonia, found online, which seemed appropriate for the Grand Duchy of Stollen since that geographic entity is supposed to have been somewhere in the Baltic region of Europe.  While not actually functioning, my windmill provides some nice visual interest for the tab...

Just received word last night that the 2012 Wargamers' Annual by Charles S. Grant is due out shortly!  Lots of interesting things, by a bevy of contributors, are covered by this new issues, including a couple of small pieces by yours truly.  That bit of self-promotion notwithstanding, this looks like another fantastic addition to current wargaming hobby literature, which you won't want to miss, and I can't wait to get my paws on it. On other fronts, spent a happy couple of hours last night applying pigment to the current crop of nine Minden hussars.  Tedious stuff like yellow facing color on the collars and cuffs, yellow and/or gold lace to the sabretaches, brown on the girths and stirrup leathers, and so forth.  Still lots to do, but the little devils are slowly getting there.  I hope for another couple of hours this evening and another few tomorrow (Sunday), but the Grand Duchess has been away at a conference, so it's just been Young Master Paul and me....

The Indra Club on the Grossefreiheit in Hamburg, Germany, where the Beatles played for 48 consecutive nights, before the police closed it due to noise complaints, from August to early October 1960.  The band then was moved up the street to the larger, wilder Kaiserkeller Club where they continued almost until being deported at the end of November that year. Although I am (before Young Master Paul arrived two years ago that is) an avid Nordic skier (avid, but definitely not Olympic material by any stretch of the imagination) and enjoy the winter, Fall is my favorite season.  Here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen, we have one of those incredibly blue days with cool temperatures, and the leaves are starting to change colors and fall from the trees.  Ahhhh. . .   Reminds me of when I was a child and teenager, growing up on my maternal grandparents' place in rural southeastern Pennsylvania about two hours outside Philadelphia. Which is just a roundabout way of sayin...

This lovely photograph is from the Redbubble.com website and was taken by Charmiene Maxwell-Batten.  I just love the way ivy and certain creepers turn red in the fall. You might recall that I mentioned hearing from "Martin" in Yorkshire, England the other day via a friendly e-mail in which he discussed his life and wargaming interests through the years.  It's always fun to hear from Grand Duchy of Stollen visitors like this, though I doubt ol' Irwin-Amadeus II needs to worry quite yet about establishing a Board of Tourism, or some such office.   But you never know. . .  In any case, a second regular visitor-wargamer, who, coincidentally, also hails from Yorkshire in the UK, has requested via e-mail that I put him in touch with Martin.  So, Martin, if you see this, and you are of a like mind, please drop me a line with your preferred e-mail contact information, which I will forward to your fellow Yorkshireman.

Not much to look at in the photo above yet, but after a particularly difficult week, I sat down for about 90 minutes last night and enjoyed applying oil washes (over Humbrol gloss enamel undercoats) to a dozen horses in the Minden hussar queue at a leisurely pace.  This kind of early 'painting' is always fun simply because there isn't a lot of concentration required.   That, and I have always enjoyed the aroma of linseed oil and other vehicles used with the various pigments to produce oil colors.  I suspect it takes me back to a time, very early in life, at about the age of four or five, when I would come home midday from kindergarten and sit on the floor next to my mother's easel while she worked.  We would chat about our respective mornings, and my sister and I would watch Mom apply oil colors to her various canvases that she had going at any one time.  Funny how the sense of smell can work like that, because that was about 4o years ago!  Doesn't s...

The first dozen hussars are finished, save for a couple of coats of clear acrylic "varnish". . . really just inflated modeller jargon for Future/Klear floor finish.  Double-click the photo above for a really ENLARGED version of the maneuvers. About to go charging across the painting table and off into space, here, submitted for your viewing pleasure are the first twelve Minden Prussian hussars, painted in, more or less, uniforms based on those of the Lauzun Legion hussars.  Time for another cuppa java and to get to basecoating the remaining 18.  Only one month and four days left to finish these darn things!

  In the meantime, here is an image, presumably of 18th, or very early 19th Century vintage, of a Swedish hussar.  A member of the Crown Prince's Regiment no less. Happy to report that I am nearing completion of the first dozen of those 30 Minden Prussian hussars that I've been moaning about here for months.  That should leave me with just over a month to complete the remaining 18 (in three batches of six) before the completion date of November 5th. . .  the day before my 45th, er. . .  um. . .   ah. . .  29th birthday!   Anyway, my wife actually asked how painting was going the other evening about 9:30pm when we joined each other on the front porch for a few moments of quiet and calm.  Caught off guard -- because the Grand Duchess almost NEVER asks about my soldier hobby -- I almost choked on my single malt and spluttered that things were going well, but if I had it to do over again, I would have purchased hussar figures from Spe...

Sometime in the night, we passed the 160,000 visits mark. . .  Since August 2006 mind you.  A hearty thank you to everyone who drops by occasionally to read my sometimes bizarre ruminations about wargaming and model soldiers, clothing, shoes, Nordic skiing, bicycling, and so forth.  Watch for another short post with a photo or two this evening once the next four Minden hussars are finished.  Eight (almost) down and only 22 to go by November 5th.

Shoes by  Johnston Murphy. . .  Very comfortable, but too formal for anything but a suit and tie, which isn't required most days on university campuses. . .  unless you are a fraternity pledge, and your "brothers" require you to dress up on a given day. While I plug away at those Minden hussars -- And who really wants to look at endless updates of each group of four figures currently under the brush? -- I thought I'd share a photograph of today's footwear choice and, indeed, my bottom half.  I've decided to buck societal trends and rechristen the end of the workweek "Dress Up Friday" instead of the dreaded "Casual/ Blue Jean/ Dress Down Friday," or some variation thereof.  Puh-leeze!  At any rate. . . (A 1940s Pathe Newsreel Announcer's Voice): And here comes the ravishing Stokes, who is modelling a delightful pair of black captoe oxfords with navy blue socks and a three season wool two-piece suit also in navy blue.  As he saunters c...

An 18th Century painting (ca. 1748) by David Morier, purporting to show grenadiers from Bavaria's Leib, von Seckendorf, and von Preysing regiments.  What's interesting is that the blue is quite dark, which seems to throw the issue of Cornflower Blue coats into question.  Might that particular feature have been a mid-19th Century innovation that has incorrectly been applied to earlier period uniforms?  Thanks Greg! No photos just yet, but the next four hussars in the pile are nearing completion.  Just a few small details on the troopers plus the white markings, hooves, and reins/harnesses on the horses.   In the meantime, have a look at these extremely useful tips on dressing well at the Put This On blog, a site dedicated to helping men dress like adults.  I have a look at this almost everyday, and while I knew the basics already thanks to my father and grandfather, I manage to learn something new each time I visit the blog.  It's a good read i...

 The first four hussars, featuring the rear of the regimental colonel's white pelisse. The first four hussars with the colonel turned around, to show his front. The next four hussars in the painting queue, already quite a way into the painting process. The Grand Duchess went to a small party thrown by a professor from a neighboring state univeristy in the next town over last night, to schmooze and introduce her recently hired colleague.  Attempts at fostering greater collegiality between the two German departments, or something like that.  She followed that with several hours at a 'ladies' night in' party at one of our own colleague's houses closer to home.   So, following Young Master Paul's dinner and bedtime routine, yours truly was able to escape down here to Zum Stollenkeller for several hours of uninterrupted painting!  Almost five in total, something that hasn't happened really since my graduate school and immediate post-graduate school bache...

More photos and commentary to follow, but I must take the cat to the veterinarian to have her rabies and distemper shots updated.  And, as you might expect, actually getting her into her cat carrier box thingy is a trial to say the least.

Here's a photo of my bottom half today. Vintage Florsheim wingtips (brogues), olive Argyll socks, and tan cords. On the top: Harris tweed blazer and pale green window pane button-down shirt by Brooks Brothers with an olive green knit silk tie by Lands End and a subtle green, black, red, and white paisley silk handkerchief peeking out from the blazer pocket. Even if my students aren't interested in what I have to say, they'll have fun looking at me. . . and laughing about it later!  Now, how about those Minden hussars, Stokes?

The 2nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers on the march in August 2008.  They were the very first unit painted for the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection during August and September '06.  And it took only a dozen boxes of Revell SYW Prussian infantry to assemble this mighty unit. It occurred to me late last night before I drifted off to sleep that mid-August came and went without my marking the fifth anniversary (and something like 865+ entries) of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog.  Clearly, the summer heat, the persistent painting funk of many months' duration, and Young Master Paul's growing pains, along with preparations for the recently started autumn university term occupied my mind to such an extent that I just plum forgot! So, I thought it a good time to page back through the early entries to this blog, made during August of 2006, when I returned home earlier this afternoon to take my toddler shift while the Grand Duchess journeyed to our nearby campus for her own round of ...

  Ok, a very modest four figures here, not the usual squadron-sized batch of eight or nine, but at least I've managed to get my seat into the painting seat, pick up a brush, and open a few bottles of paint.  Still lots of things to do like the guidon, the stripes down the outside of the breeches, the scabbards and stirrups, some more black lining for definition here and there, etc., etc.   And let's not forget a few touch-ups to fix those inevitable forthcoming mishaps with the brush!  Still, I'm fairly well please with the way things have gone the last few nights and eager to return for an hour or so of painting this evening.  Oh, and how do you like that depth-of field in the picture? 

Neither a grenadier, nor a hussar, nor a cuirassier he, but one of the many illustrations on male style done by Laurence Fellows, during the 1930s-50s, for the defunct trade magazine Apparel Arts and the more widely recognized Esquire Magazine, the latter of which is now very different from what it was when my father had a subscription 40+ years ago.  Esquire has become an awfully trendy rag in more recent years, catering more to the urban male hipster subset -- that seems more interested in cultivating a well-groomed five-o'clock shadow over trousers that are too short. . .  oh, and reading about the ten kinky things your girlfriend wants most in the bedroom, but won't ask for -- than used to be the case many years ago when hard journalism still mattered and people actually read and discussed articles by writers like Gay Talese. It's been an interesting week here at Stollen Central.  Spurred into action by a few wargaming friends, I've managed to sit myself back in t...

You begin wearing things like houndstooth jackets and navy blue ties with green whales on them. . .  and ENJOYING it!  Not visible here are the tan vintage Florsheim wingtips (that's brogues for you Commonwealth visitors) and dark olive green socks that complete the ensemble.  Kids, don't try this at home!

In a bit of a painting slump here at the moment.  What else is new?  Hasn't that been the case since late winter?  These Minden hussars are kicking my tail, figuratively speaking, and have me completely psyched out.  Hopefully, the painting inspiration will strike again before too much longer, but it won't be this weekend I'm afraid.  Too much else to do in the way of domestic bliss (??!!) and tomorrow too much reading and preparation for Monday's classes.  Sigh.  It's like being back in graduate school all over again.  And to add insult to injury, I had to take down part of my wargaming table here in Zum Stollenkeller yesterday afternoon, so that we could use two of the folding tables for a departmental picnic that we hosted outside on the patio yesterday evening.  Grrrrr.  Sometimes, life just doesn't go the way you want it to.

Still quite a bit to paint, but I've finally got the color of blue that I'm after.  Should have done this to begin with.  Why in the world didn't I listen to the little inner voice in the first place? Sometimes, I guess, you just have to skin your knees a few times before things fall into place.  So, after trying out a wash of light blue acrylic over a white acrylic undercoat on a single hussar test figure Thursday evening, yesterday afternoon I re-applied (long, drawn-out groan) a white undercoat to the dolmans and pelisses of his 11 cronies.  Later, after supper and bedtime for Young Master Paul, while the Grand Duchess packed and streamed an episode or two of Desperate Housewives online, I stole away back down here to Zum Stollenkeller, to apply washes of Games Workshop light blue (Icy Blue?) and see how things stood this time. Voila!  Eureka!  Shazam!  Holy Utility Belts Batman!  This is finally it.  The third time's the charm.  ...

  The tactically adept -- or at least high-rolling -- Colonel von Adalnowski, a retired Stollenian officer and bon vivant of considerable notoriety. As August approaches, the time for annual late summer maneuvers is upon us in the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  It comes as no surprise, then, that the army has departed this week for the more open country of the northeast where such maneuvers are typically held each year.  However, due to a recent lateral promotion , the young Major von Topfsange (pictured below) finds himself inexplicably left behind and confined to a corner desk job in some  government office building or other in the capital city Krankenstadt. "Plodding, plodding, plodding," grumbled von Topfsange, "Does this paperwork never end?  I should be leading a regiment or two of cavalry on those blasted maneuvers!"  As the major continued to read through another one of the seemingly endless form letters, signing and stamping it with a government seal ...