“Salute 50" Showcase 2023 - Part One: Greetings And Meetings

"Celebrating fifty years of the South London Warlords running Salute."

Considering that “the biggest and best independent one day show in the United Kingdom” didn’t happen last year, I must confess to having been both extremely excited and nervous about attending “Salute 50”. I’ve been visiting the event since its days at the Olympia in London, and had many wonderful memories of the items bought, stalls visited, and people encountered during these trips. Regrettably, the last show in November 2021 wasn’t the greatest of experiences for various reasons, most notably the no-shows, so I was really hoping South London Warlords would be able to help me put that disappointment behind me.

Happily, I needn’t have worried as upon arriving at the ExCeL convention centre in Custom House it was clear the venue was seriously sizeable and packed full of vendors, inspirational demonstrations and participation games. Admittedly, my eagerness did mean I was stood in the increasingly large queue an hour before the ‘doors opened’. But I didn’t mind a bit as my position provided me with a great opportunity to stare into the vast hall and plot a rough path to all the prominent sellers I could see. Furthermore, the time allowed me to peruse the show’s nostalgic-flavoured guide – produced by “Miniature Wargames” – as well as marvel at the Viking Jarl celebratory figure which “was designed and manufactured by Warlord Games.”

"Our aim is to promote the very best in the hobby."

The best part of such visits is always meeting both fellow bloggers, stall holders and other notable personalities within our hobby. This year was no exception with Karl Perrotton of “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” winning most enthusiastic greeting of the day when he suddenly bounded out of an incredibly busy booth to shake me by the hand. Ten minutes later I left him having bought a dozen metal miniatures and gained a basic insight into his company’s future plans concerning STL (Standard Triangle Language) files.

The greeting from Leon over at “Pendraken Miniatures” was no less warm though, and whilst his stall’s frenzied customers didn’t give me any time to chat with him, it was encouraging to see I wasn’t the only person filling my basket full of his 10mm metal goodness. Plus, I was able to thank him for liking my tweets concerning the six Sherman tanks I recently discovered and painted. Needless to say, those Allied armoured vehicles won’t be going into future battles alone for much longer.

Some of the displays by "Warp Miniatures", "Monkstone Miniatures" and "Olmec Games"

Another notable highlight was being able to finally meet Peter Buxton of “Trans Atlantis Games”, who very kindly sent me out an entire set of “Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats” paints late last year to trial. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to thank the former Games Workshop presenter himself as he was inundated with people wanting to meet him. But I did later on have the chance to briefly chat with his old ‘partner-in-crime’ Chris Peach, who jokily took exception to hearing that his friend’s booth was proving very popular.

Lastly, I was able to speak to Big Lee of “Miniatures Adventures” fame of YouTube. I had intended to then move on to the annual bloggers meeting, which ordinarily congregates next to the Painting Competition area. However, I was told that only a few of us had actually managed to make the show, so found myself being quickly lured away by some very reasonably priced “Flames Of War” bargains at the nearby "Entoyment Wargaming And Hobby Centre" and "Frome Model Centre" stalls...

"So, What Do You Think Got To My Tractor?"

"Something the commies built? Some kind of monster? Something from outer space?"

This 28mm scale Giant Robot is produced by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio", and can be bought as SKU: MINI 688 from their Science Fiction range. Sculpted by Andrew May, the multi-piece resin kit comes with a choice of two hands (claw or death ray), and stands approximately 90mm in height. Due to my wanting this 'towering war machine' to be fielded alongside my previously-pigmented Killbots and Spybots, it was undercoated with a double helping of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey before being drenched in "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green.

I then applied a dry-brush of "Vallejo" Gunmetal to the entire miniature, making sure to especially 'hit' the edges of its head and numerous rivets, and shaded it further with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. To build upon this illusion of the automaton being significantly weathered I later drenched it in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and meticulously dabbed each head with a splodge of "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash. Once this time-consuming process was completed, I attempted to blend everything together with a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Grey.

CC27 Studio WIPs - Lazer Face and Namaste Haiku primed with the "Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats" range

This technique was rather patiently done as I wanted to ensure that some of the previously-used "Vallejo" Gunmetal still shone through so as to the pair a slight metallic sheen. Once finished, the Giant Robot's cyclopean eye and chest laser were subsequently spotted with a combination of "Scalecolor" Speed Metal and the "Citadel" Contrast colour Flesh Tearers Red. Finally, I applied some fifteen year old American military decals to the deadly machine, feeling that the transfers rather faded, bleached look would suit a towering droid which was still stalking a post-apocalyptic battlefield.

In addition to the Giant Robot, I have also been busy testing out a number of paints from "Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats" range. These were very kindly sent out by Peter Buxton of "Trans Atlantis Games" and, whilst I've only so far tried out a handful of the colours generously posted to me, they have already become my favourite pigments within just a day.

C27 Studio WIPs - Alien Soldier, I Know Kung-Fu, and Duck-tective

I've been using them on some of the 40mm scale STL (Standard Triangle Language) files by "C27 Studio" I've recently created using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer, as I wanted to see how well they covered the super-heroic figures with a single application. Being just a tabletop standard painter I'm always keen to try to 'miss a step' in the painting process by priming my miniatures in their main colour, so this experiment provided me with an opportunity to try out the mainstays White Star and Doom Death Black, as well as Emerald Green and Sir Coates Silver.

The dropper bottles all come with agitators inside of them, so a simple shake of each pot certainly seems to mix up their contents good enough for my uses. Furthermore, I've been pleased with how smooth-flowing each colour's consistency is straight from the nozzle, with only White Star (perhaps unsurprisingly) being a bit 'goopier' than its peers. All of them though have provided me with a solid foundation for future layers, with Sir Coates Silver arguably being the most impressive (over an undercoat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black) and I'm now looking forward to getting some further washes/other pigments from "Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats" range onto the models over the next few hobby sessions...