Sgt. Bale Extreme

Two years and two months from my original post about my Sgt. Bale Extreme components and plans, here it is finished.

Click on the pictures to enlarginate.

I would not have finished this now if it was not for the 'miniature exchange' that Varagon arranged and orchestrated on the Pulp City Forum, so big thanks to him for creating a vehicle to get me motivated to paint it. I will definitely sign up for the next one!

I have added a comparison shot with my own Sgt. Bale as this will probably be the only time the two minis will ever be able to be seen together; Sgt. Bale Extreme will soon be winging his way across the Atlantic to its recipient.

I have really enjoyed this process and the deadline was a useful thing for me - I seem to work better with a deadline it seems.

It has been nice to see various Forum members who got involved posting their progress. If you get a chance to sign up for something similar, I heartily recommend it.

When the mini due to head my way is received, expect pictures of that too.

Two years and two months from start to finish? No time at all...

Sgt. Bale Extreme (6)

I think I have finished this. I say think, as I will need to have a second look in daylight in the morning to be sure. It is not yet varnished (which I will leave to dry for at least 24 hours once done), but the primary painting is done I feel, barring any last minute corrections.

Once I have rechecked the mini I will take some proper pictures with my lighting set-up before dispatching it to the USA to Beermonkey who it has been painted for.

This is the first time I have painted a mini for 'someone else', and the deadline for the exchange has been a good thing for me. Nice to finally have this done after sitting waiting painting for so long.

Sgt. Bale Extreme (5)

The latest update.

The deadline is next Sunday, 18th March. This week I have been feeling under the weather so have not achieved as much as I would like, but I made a start on the boots and flames - both need more work to finish.

More painting later today then.

Sgt. Bale Extreme (4)

Just a little update. The deadline for this is March 16th, but given the stop-start approach I have to painting I have done some small bits and pieces over the past couple of days.

It may not be obvious from the WiP picture, but the green fatigues have had washes and highlighting applied, so onto the boots or skin next.

Other WiP stuff is: Tengu Boss Zombie; a Reaper Chronoscope mini (Black Mist?); former US Secretary of Defense Dell Rusk.

Sgt. Bale Extreme (3)

Recently Varagon of the Pulp City Forum has organised a 'mini exchange', whereby participants all paint a mini for another participant.

I drew Beermonkey (a.k.a. my partner in crime Devon; we both help out with the Games Development side of things for Pulp City).

With the recent website and store access problems I was faced with the issue that I did not have any spares around of minis he does not have, so I wanted something special. After mulling it over for a few days, I remembered the Sgt. Bale Extreme conversion I began a couple of years ago (I know, I know...). So after more than 2 years, progress has started!

March 18th is the deadline for completion, which should be okay (famous last words...), so hopefully I will update the blog periodically with progress.

Sgt. Bale Extreme (2)

I had planned to assemble this conversion piecemeal, to do something when I didn't feel up to painting. Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy, or so they say*. In other words I built this in just an hour or so. So no time-filler on the painting challenge at this time, then.

At this stage some more green-stuffing is needed to fill a couple of gaps and build a finger on the M4 trigger. Overall I am happy with the basic construction. I could have tried to reposition the gun arm, but that would have been both tricky and would possibly have switched focus to the gun more than the flaming hand or skull.

I'll try and log the progress on this model as I finish various major stages. Next up is waiting for the weather to warm up enough to spray undercoat the model.


*They actually said:

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

And they was he, Field-Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke, also known as Moltke the Elder. Note that Graf is a title, not a name. A seemingly pragmatic strategist and theoretician, von Moltke postulated that only the beginning of a military operation was plannable. Wise man, methinks.

Sgt. Bale Extreme - conversion (1)

I just thought I'd post a bit about a conversion I am going to start work on. It is a Pulp City mini, a copy of which (not converted) I have already started tentatively painting. But when a percolating idea met another inspiration from my main hobby buddy, then this idea was born.

I had seen Sgt. Bale converted to have a larger than equipped gun, which was an idea I liked a lot. The aforementioned gaming buddy (Rob - whose own blog can be found here: Four Colour Super Minis) had mentioned - over rather tasty sandwiches while out shopping - about using a flaming head from a Wyrd Miniatures basing and accessories pack on an unrelated conversion of his own.

Suddenly I had a eureka moment. Visualising at that moment the contents of the pack (I was pretty familiar with it) I thought the head and a couple of other pieces would nicely complement the Sgt. Bale model, as well as the planned conversion. Such was the birth of this mini project. Which means I am adding another mini to my Pulp City Painting Challenge log of models to get finished before the end of the year.

The components are:
- Sgt. Bale
- parts (flaming skull head, base insert, flame piece) from the Wyrd miniatures Flame Base & Accessories pack
- a RAFM USX Modern M4-type gun (yes they weren't in use until years after the Pulp City setting of the 1980's, but I think it looks cool!)