More Hand Painted Flags for IR46 von Bulow

Two smaller regimentsfahn (left) and the larger practice version on the right.
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Yesterday, I knocked out two more flags for the von Bulow Fusiliers, sized a bit smaller than the larger first practice flag that I painted earlier this week. These will be placed on my newly-painted second battalion of the von Bulow Fusiliers that I completed earlier today. I had forgotten to order the second battalion flags from GMB Designs, so I decided to go ahead and give it a go at painting my own flags.

You might recall that I painted some Russian Observation Corps flags recently using the Kronoskaf flags as a template of sorts. I cut and paste the flag images from Kronoskaf, make a mirror image reverse side version, and then stick the two halves together in Word. Once in Word, the flags are scaled down to a size that will fit in with my Minden 30mm figures.

The next step is to start painting over the Kronoskaf flag with acrylic paint, covering virtually all of the surface with new paint to create a hand-painted flag. The hardest part is painting the royal cyphers inside the black flames. They are so tiny that painting them to a decent standard is difficult, more so than with a larger flag surface to work with.

The command stand for 2nd Battalion IR46 von Bulow Fusiliers.
The figures are from Minden Miniatures, of course.

The reverse sides of the flags are shown above.

Here is the Full Cleveland image of the battalion:

The second battalion of von Bulow. I had to place one of the stands behind the flag stand
in order to get all of the figures into the picture. There are 32 figures in the battalion.

I will be basing the unit today, using pre-mixed spackle paste with brown acrylic paint stirred into the pot. The stand goop is spread around the bases of the figures and then the stand is dipped into a tray of "very fine" railroad ballast. Once the base completely dries (in about 4 hours), I will dry brush some brown paint onto the base (I actually use the "stipple" technique for the paint highlights). Following that, the bases are finished off with tufts of grass and flowers and static grass on the ground.

I will post pictures of the completed and based battalion (as well as the whole 2-battalion regiment) tomorrow, so return tomorrow for the update.

I think that IR46/2 will be one of my favorite battalions in my Prussian army because I painted everything in it: figures and flags. There is something very satisfying about doing all the work myself rather than paying a professional to hand paint the flags for me. A unit seems to have no "soul" unless you have invested your own time and effort into bringing it to life with your own brushes.

The von Bulow regiment is part of the Pommeranian Army of Prussians that will fight against the Russians. I now have 5 Prussian battalions (32-figures instead of 30) for this new army. My goal is to paint 10 or 12 battalions and then simply use the cavalry regiments from my other Prussian army (the King's Army).