Salute 2015 is over, and what a ride it was this year!
Huge difference right off the bat in that instead of being just a visitor, buyer, spectator admiring all the riches laid within, I got to be on the Trader list instead! Which meant that I got to skip that entire line behind me up top there, and wander around before everyone entered the hall!
But honestly, that was not needed because this year the hall was even bigger, and thus it didn't fell so much like a sardine can as it was last year. Plus, with the e-ticket sheets, entering the hall apparently was also easier ( though much like a stampede as well from what I heard! ).
So why as a trader this year? Is Mr Lee selling something finally? Well.. no.. not yet.. but one of the big backers of Mr Lee was, and I was helping him out! Alan from Modelmates was in full effect once more so I headed over to his booth to help him out. But I was not expecting to see such large close ups of some of my pieces as examples! Wowzers! Lookie lookie.. I be famous :P
It was really cool to have some of my work up there, and to be able to reference it in the large photos while also showing off my models themselves. As this show I had brought with me models to explain how and where I had used the weathering liquids, and to what effect.
It was not the most glamorous of set ups, and it didn't show off everything, but it did do the job. And although it was close to the bottles, nothing got knocked over throughout the entire show! I call that a success!!!!
In the end as well, all my stickers and cards were given out. So hopefully we will see some new followers in the weeks to follow ( or at least new likes on the Facebook page? ).
Throughout the day though the booth was swamped. Many visitors came over to get a live demo from Alan and his team, or came over to me to ask for examples and how to use it in a particular model or 2.
Am really happy to have bought the Skitari robots and painted them up quickly as they were great to give quick explanations about how to use the products, and see different techniques with a single bottle.
Plenty of friends popped by as well, and some we even managed to get some selfies in with! Huzzah!
Thanks again to all of that! Was great to put names to faces ( and some I can even remember! ) and being able to catch up in person with others.
Was also able to get out and catch up with a couple of traders as things were still setting up. Some also did photos with me!
Great to see Infamy and Ax Faction set up and looking as sharp as ever! Would have tried for shots with Armored Syndicate and Guild Ball but both were swamped with buyers and I had to get back to the booth to help out. Next time for sure!
Oh and yeah.. some on Facebook have already seen it, but for those not.. here was the swap list... compulsory public shaming of myself it seems...
A quick breakdown of things that stand out and I remember buying deliberately instead of impulse were..
- 3 full teams, mascots, and rulebook for Guildball!
- A full restock of the Modelmates product line ( including some of the newly released dropper bottles! )
- Infamy Black Market tote bag complete with goodies ( sans Jo bust.. to come later though ;) )
- Maria from Armoured Syndicate game by Megaton Games
- Japanese Dice bag and more Bolt Action dice from Warlord
- 4 Engima 54mm models from Troll Traders bargin bin
- A Deepsea diver metal monster in 54mm from Troll Trader bargin bin again
- 5 Weird War British Robot soldiers from a stand near Warlords.. ( saw them painted, and complete impulse buy! )
- pack of 4 Zombie Christmas models.. no idea where from, complete impulse buy
- Medieval Merchant bust from MDP on sale
- Medieval Lord 54mm figure from Figone
- Kyle Reese Terminator LE piece for a club mate locally
So expect the next several weeks to have some reviews of everything.. some more in depth than others.. but it was a great day and plenty of things to now run off and do! Including actually working on a proper showcase painting project! Let's see if I can make that real and keep the momentum going with it!