The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Seemingly endless white washes followed by a feather touch of the bristles, each application holding a small drop of black paint, to the gaiter buttons has yielded a nut unpleasing effect to this company of Hessen-Darmstadt Leibgrenadiers.  I was extremely careful to run the very tip of the bristles across the raised buttons and, fortunately, made very few mistakes that required fixing.  Some days, the stars align just right! T he Young Master's school district, along with many others in the area, has closed and, in a very rare move, so too has Michigan State University and will be again tomorrow (Thursday).  The university has only closed half a dozen times due to winter weather in its history, so you know it's cold.  My sister tells me that a client of hers, who is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and with whom she spoke on the telephone this morning, mentioned that is was -27 degrees Fahrenheit there.   "Zoiks!" as Shaggy used to into...

Backtracking a bit here for the white clad Hessen-Darmstadt Leibgrenadiers at right, a frustrating exercise, but this is where we are as of 3:59pam Eastern Standard Time on Sunday afternoon. T ime spent this morning and mid-afternoon redoing the white gaiters and garters on the Hessen-Darmstadt half of my composite grenadier battalion (Argh!!!) .  I've taken the opportunity to add the basic brown horse color for the mounted officer as well as the red (Khorne Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, and very spar se pure Scarlet atop that)breeches, waistcoats, and saddle cloth for the officers plus the drummer's coat for the Kurkoeln Wildenstein drummer.   And now, it's time to do something that actually helps pay the bills (and purchase life's essentials. . .  more brushes, paints, military history or wargaming hobby books, and soldiers).  No more putting it off.  No way.  No how.  I absolutely must see to some preparation for tomorrow's two classes befor...

Two shots taken this afternoon after the latest couple of Saturday morning and afternoon painting sessions.  They're actually beginning to look pretty good if I do say so myself.  Blast!  Looking at Kronoskaf again, I see that the Hessen-Darmstadt Leib Grenadiers at right had WHITE gaiters, and the officers wore RED breeches and waistcoats.  Sigh.  Back to the ol' drawing board. S ince last we met, I have finished up the various white areas using mostly a #1 round, especially on the waistcoats peeking our from beneath the coats, painted in the black and red stocks, mustaches, and blocked in grey and dark brown for the shoulder straps.   While I was somewhat anxious about painting these given the level of detail on Minden figures, painting so far has, on the contrary, been a real joy.  There is just no getting away from it.  The absolute winning combination of:  1) well-sculpted, crisp castings; 2) brushes with good points, and...

A couple of quick photo updates showing where things stand at the moment with my composite grenadier battalion. A wintry, icy day has meant that The Young Master's school was closed today, and I got to remain home with him, which is no hardship by any stretch of the imagination.  A perfect time, then, to bite the bullet and get to those various white areas on these 30+ Minden Austrian grenadiers.  Very careful application of 3-4 almost washes with a brand new #1 round.  Slow going, but it yields nice, subtle results, I think, over the tan undercoat, which gives a warmer, 'woolier' look than does a gray undercoat.  Not quite done, but getting very close.  Maybe I can finish the whites this evening? -- Stokes

Here's where there's are as of Monday afternoon . J ust a quick update before The Young Master and I head out to ski while the skiing's good.  The battalion has had its bases painted green, dark red applied to the silk bags atop bearskin bonnets, all fleshtone, and royal blue highlights applied in the last couple of day.  Next up, the white highlights for the Hessen-Darmstadt part of the battalion.  Huzzah! -- Stokes

Next up, fleshtone to the faces and hands.  Usually, I have always applied this particular color first, but it seemed like a good idea to shake things up a bit this time around. A lthough not really a conscious New Year's resolution, I have quietly determined that I will not let myself be distracted from hobby pursuits this year because of various work and life commitments.  Life is for living, and we should not permit the stressful and/or tedious things to impede our enjoyment of all the free time activities that we enjoy.  But I have done just that and allowed the stress and tedium to overtake everything else the last 3.5 years.  Good for neither the mind, nor the body in the long term.  Enough!   It has begun to seem , to me at least, that I have lost my hobby bearings the last few years as a result, the residual effects of our big move back in June 2015.  High time now to get things (and myself) back on track.  While I want to avo...

S everal photographs to share following a lengthy painting session this afternoon, devoted entirely to holding my breathe and applying lots of oil-based gold paint to Soubise and his aide.  Not too many brush mishaps either, which does not happen that often.  I must admit to feeling pretty pleased with the results of this particular painting session, so I'm stopping for the day.  No sense in lousing up previous work thanks to tired eyes or a shaky brush hand.  Anyway, some white markings on the two horses, touch-ups, and glossing next followed by some limited groundwork, and then we can call 'em done I think. -- Stokes One of several references I found online that I am using as a guide to help paint my version of Soubise.  His tactical shortcomings aside, the uniform illustrated is reason enough to add him to my numerous command vignettes.

My late maternal grandfather, David Lewis Stokes, the subject of this particular post. The shoulder patch of his unit, the long defunct U.S. 13th Airborne Division. T his past Wednesday -- January 9, 2019 -- would have been my maternal grandfather's 102nd birthday.  Hard to believe since the image of him that I carry in my mind is of a tall, blond, soft-spoken small town North Carolina boy, who seemed, when I was young, to be as tall as an oak tree and strong as an ox.   Like so many of his era, Granddaddy was involved in the Second World War, the European Theater in his case.  Initially an anti-aircraft gunner in a Pennsylvania National Guard unit stationed on Curacao where he defended the Dutch oil fields, he later transferred and trained as both a paratrooper and glider-borne infantry.  Scary stuff when one considers how so many similar units of troops fared during WWII when facing the enemy.   Arriving in Le Havre, ...

Soubise (left) and aide take shape. A few different short sessions in the painting chair this Saturday afternoon and into the early evening.  I've already gone ahead and added highlights to certain areas, including horse tack and coats.   Soubise's coat, in particular has three different tones of acrylic red.  I finished by just barely touching small amounts of scarlet to the highest areas, taking care NOT to highlight the small of his back, which would get less natural light than, say his shoulders, upper back, or the very ends of his coattails.   Still plenty to do, yes, but the two figures and their horses are starting to look kind of nice if I do say so myself.  Maybe a bit more work this evening after the Young Master's bedtime?  I'll see which way the painting wind blows. -- Stokes

These two figures have been hanging around for several years now.  Since 2013 or '14 maybe?  High time then to do something with them! A piece of sage advice came from one visitor (Wellington Man?) to the Grand Duchy of Stollen during the last few days, who suggested that I reward myself for finally getting the monster cuirassier regiment done by painting something small next.  Hence the command vignette above, which I worked on in two short bursts of painting yesterday and another slightly longer session during the evening, just post-bedtime for the Young Master.  The figure in red at right is intended to be, or at least is based upon various illustrations, portraits, and a painted 40mm flat found online of Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise .   Still blocking in the main base colors and highlights in acrylic at this point, but I must admit to feeling very pleased with the way the basic horse colors turned out.  As usual, these are oils -- Va...

This year's Stollen, which the Grand Duchess snapped a picture of after dusting it with powdered sugar.  It is and has been wonderful. D er Stollen is da!  The Grand Duchess came through yet again and baked us our annual Christmas stollen last night.  Authentic Dresdnerstollen baked using the usual recipe from one of Sonja's German language cookbooks.  A few weeks late, sure, but then she is a busy lady in her recent associate dean guise of the last two years.  One final bit of Christmas in any case.  A stollen to honor the arrival of the three kings then.  Needless to say, the house smelled heavenly once the baking began thanks to the yeast and butter, and you should taste it.  Holy cow!  Melts in your mouth is something of an understatement.  I was surprised with an inaugural sample slice and some chocolate milk while in bed very late last night, and I'll enjoy a second piece with fresh coffee for breakfast in just a little whi...

Here's a shot of the nearly finished composite regiment of cuirassiers in bearskins (RSM95 French cuirassiers in bearskins) although mine are based on Wurttemberg's Leib Grenadiere zu Pferd and another regiment of Germans in the French service. O k, time to quit tinkering and get 'em glossed for better or worse.  Except for a gray highlight on one of the black bearskins, they're done darn it!  Now, let's start thinking.  What might I do next with all of my copious spare time? -- Stokes. And here is closer in shot that, hopefully, enable you to see the finished carbines in somewhat better detail.  Besides the obvious Winsor&Newton silver and brass (a mix of gold and silver), the wooden stocks were painted using dark brown Rhinox Hide and highlighted with Doombull Brown

The Grand Duchess and I are looking forward to a quiet evening at home tonight with a sparkling wine toast at midnight. W ell, here we are at the end of yet another Christmas season and year.  On a personal and family note, it has been reasonably good as far as years go.  The Grand Duchess and Young Master continue to go from strength to strength in their work and school activities, as does my sister with the former.  She relocated from Phoenix, Arizona back to Washington, D.C., after an absence of 20 years or so, in December 2017, which was followed in fairly short order by quite a promotion,  Good ol' Mom and Stepdad continue to tick along and have recently relocated back to the United States (Pinehurst, North Carolina), so they are a bit closer than in Merida, Yucatan State in Mexico, and my stepfather has begun his phased retirement, planning to conclude professing at The University of Pittsburgh in another couple of years.  As for yours truly, thin...

Not an overtly Christmasy image, but the child on skis is gazing at a particular bright star in the heavens. B laaggh.  I have caught The Grand Duchess' nasty cold, and have felt crummy for the last 24 hours or so.  However, I finally pulled myself out of bed, showered, shaved, put on clean crisp pajamas and some Gray Flannel aftershave before staggering down here to Zum Stollenkeller with a second mug of coffee.  I might just make it after all.  The curative powers of a warm shower and a shave.   Hopefully, I'll feel like sitting down to the paiting table for a bit this evening and playing that small solo game on New Year's Eve tomorrow.  I've been thinking of a simple Featherstone scenario with two infantry regiments, a cavalry squadron, and a gun each.  You know.  Just to test the water and push some lead around the table for a couple of hours in a low stakes game. -- Stokes

Here are the two squadrons together with the colonel in command and his trumpeter at the fore. R ighty-oh.  As far as I can tell, the necessary touching up is now finished.  Not too many, but there were a few tiny areas to address with some red, black, and/or white paint and my trusty 000 sable brush, which is just starting to develop a hook after about 20+ years, but it still manages to do the trick when I need it.  Plus, I needed to do the gold tassels on the silk bags of the the red-coated Wurttemberg squadron at left.  Just their carbine barrels and brass bands on the carbine stocks, then we can begin glossing everything.  I don't know about you, but I can almost hear the thundering of hundreds of hooves.  What a frightful thing it must have been to be on the receiving end of an enemy cavalry charge. -- Stokes Yet another quiet old Christmas greeting from long ago to stretch out Christmas Week just a  bit more.

After holding my breath for what seemed like hours -- It was like defusing a time-bomb in some action adventure movie or other -- the standards are attached, in place, and furled reasonably well. S pent another hour or so at the painting desk yesterday evening after tucking The Young Master into bed for the night.  Managed to snap a couple of quick photos just to give you a taste of where things stand at this point after touching up the edges of the standards with some additional GW/Citadel gold acrylic .  I'm pleased with the way things have turned out although I had to go back and tone down the highlights on the blue standard a bit after looking at the pictures last night.  But I think things are about where I want them this morning.  Today at some point I need to retouch a few of the fleur de lis , but afterwards, I'll call 'em done and attach the cavalry carbines to the red squadron.  Once dry, a few touch ups to those, and then it's onto the ac...

Except for the touching up once they are attached to their respective flagpoles, along with some judicious red and blue highlights, the squadron standards are done.  Oversized in the fine tradition of Peter Gilder and Doug Mason, who, more than any other modellers, continue to inform how I approach figure painting. N ot quite two hours in the painting chair this blustery, wet afternoon, but I've managed to get the two squadron standards to a point where I think they'll, provide a reasonable approximation of the real thing once mounted and glossed.  I used a #4 round with a good point to apply the thinned dark read and navy blue acrylics, than a brand new #1 round to dab on squiggles and lines of GW gold plus a bit of to the standard at left.  This is the first time EVER that I have attempted the painting standards BEFORE attaching them to the flagpoles.   While far from perfect, they'll do the trick, and I'm very pleased with the results.  Live and ...

Here is a fun old Christmas card that I stumbled across online somewhere in the last year.  Just imagine what this scene might really sound like. A hhhh.  Nothing like that first mug of coffee for the day.  Followed quickly by an eggnog chaser.  Fear not however!  I am not hitting the sauce this early in the day (9:42am), and the eggnog is not doctored with medicinal substance.  Just frothy and cold, straight from the carton and into a large juice glass.  One of my December indulgences each year. Toy Soldiering plans for today include tinkering with that first squadron of red Wurttemburg curassiers from last summer to attached their carbines as I mentioned in my previous post.  Then, there is the table to set up for tomorrow's planned solo affair.  Finally, if the world, wife, and child permit, I've got some unpainted lead to review with an eye to determining the next unit in the painting in the painting queue.  Maybe. I hope y...