Last November I saw 3D printing in Ludica fair in Rome. So I thought about to buy something made in this way to touch a future feel. A special offer with free delivery from Shapeways gave me the opportunity to spend money for a Spider Dalek.

Some days after, in Christmas time as you can see for the towel, I received a huge parcel with inside a little transparent sprue. It was pretty viscid and the details were fine but a little crispy. 3D printing is not perfect, you cannot have a resin mould quality. A method to obtain smoother surfaces is to scratch them with a acetone light wash or other acid substances. I’m lazy so only wash the sprue with a lot of soap.

A Spider Dalek is a fictional Dalek – the others are real, aren’t they – an aborted hypothesis for a character development. There is not a definite design, only some sketches. So I was not so sure about how to assemble it. A fast painting on the first Daleks colour pattern complete it. Now it is ready to spread terror among the galaxy.

This afternoon we will have a new Christmas special for the Doctor Who. I hope I will watch it on BBC through an iPad app here in Italy. In the meantime I show you this computer forged inside an aluminium reproduction of the Tardis. It is an officially licensed product by BBC and it is a real computer. The price is not so low, it is sold for 1000 euros at least. It cannot travel through time, sorry.

Tonight the new Dr Who season 33 (!) will be aired. And to start with a bang we will have a bunch of mad (!) Daleks on rampage: “Asylum of the Daleks”. Well, “asylum” is something different from “invasion”, “masterplan”, “victory”, “revelation”, “return”, “resurrection”,… To celebrate the event I’m thinking to buy some Daleks for my collection. I have some Renegade Daleks and Imperial Daleks in 28mm scale, but now I’m looking for something bigger. Sad fact: this is the last season with the cute Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) but will be presented Clara Oswin (Jenna-Louise Coleman), a new cute companion. But Amy is the cutest companion ever.

If you haven’t a girl you can always buy one, a plastic one, indeed.

Amy Pond is the cutest Dr. Who’s companion and you have the possibility to have on your desk a fine reproduction of Karen Gillan (the actress) in her stage dress.

Another great toy in 1/6 format (12″ or 30cm high), with a lot of options and gadgets, and a signed limited edition availability too. The price is not so cheap, it is in pre order at only £150 from Big Chief, the producers. If you are a real fan…

I’m a Doctor Who fan. Yeah, I know, it is sci-fi for families, not so innovative,… but it is so British, a tradition as double decker in London, and so I love it. If it runs since 1963 there is a reason. Moreover, I think that Amy Pond is the most cute companion of the Doctor ever. Sad that the next series will be the last with this great girl.

I have got two decks of cards. The former is from Top Trumps series (an easy game based on cards, very popular in the land of Marmite), the latter is a regular poker deck with photos from the first new series of 2005.

Next time I will be in London I have to seek for a Top Trumps deck with classic black and white characters… I need it… Well, I will not be at Salute this year, different from a personal tradition. Maybe I will see London in September-October, but it is not so sure. In the meantime I think I find time for a full Agliana convention report on my blog during this Easter days off. I have a lot of things to show.

Someone think that Lucca Games is a fair for gadgets, boardgames or videogames, but there is a large attention to miniatures and modelling, you have to look better to realise it.

Here we have a heir of Blood Bowl: another ruleset, different miniatures, but the same result. I like this playing field, it has a a refined taste, with the square subdivision only suggested on the ground.

I like original ideas. These ones are skeletons on a tracker, but with a baywatch theme! Great!

Huh, the Doctor is in the fair. Old Black Tree miniatures brought to life in the painters section of the fair. They passed all the time painting. The next time I have to bring a miniature with me for them, just to have something well painted to remind the fair. This year there was a Sandokan miniature as miniature of the event, but I didn’t buy it, maybe because I don’t have plans for a pirate set. I’m stupid, I could buy it and have it painted just at the desk in front of Ganesha Games stand…

Cosimo Auricchio is the sculptor of TB Line miniatures. He is a free lance, a real artist, which sometimes sculpt even in 28mm format. Here you can see this skeleton pirate. Great miniature and great painter who highlighted the piece.

Cosimo sold dummies for sculptors, but there were others. I have not expectation on my skills as sculptor so I didn’t buy them. Narciso instead wants to try.

Inside Lucca Games there is Grogg, a coontest about modelling and painting. Here some examples of the historical type.

Do you want a bust of Thor? Every house must own its Thor bust. It is only 800 euros, limited production I suppose. Not so discreet.

WOG is the new incarnation of WOW. From the sense of wonder to an insult. Now Ares Games produce these aircraft for the popular game that was Wings of War, because Nexus Games went bankrupt. New production, some new fighters and bombers, a lot of bombers.

Preproduction models from China, that bomb us with cheap plastic toys.

Yamato in space. Huge ship, more than a simple model, it is big as a small torpedo…

Pikachu in a human form, as Japanese puppets imitate human forms. A play of mirrors…

Saint Seiya are puffs. I like only the temple in this scene, but a lot of people like these gold puppets more.

Londinium is a really great city. I love it! This is my 8th or 9th time that I visit it, and I want to come again and again. This is my report about the other things I did beside Salute together with my old chaps. And there is no Salute without a visit to London…

First thing to do in London: to see the latest miniatures painted by our guest Luca. It is late, but little soldiers are little soldiers!

This is Henry, but it is a female. It lives in the house and used to sleep between me and Narciso. I had only half bed because the other half was for Henry. It has very affectionate ways, a puss machine!

Next year will be the Olympic year. The clock in Trafalgar square.

Renzo Piano has the longest… skyscraper. The skyline has a new presence, you can always see it around London. Ready for 2012. The Belfast vessel and the Tower of London pier watch the development.

The heart of Little Italy, the church of St. Peter.

The memorial on the sink of Arandona Star, the ship with part of the Italians who lived in London, deported toward Canada in 1940.

Another ship, a reconstructed ship, with a freshwater sailor on it.

Even the Doctor visits Forbidden Planet shop.

A local delicatessen: a Dalek cake!

Real British food: gammon with eggs and chips.

British food again: fish and chips with peas.

From left to right: Luca (his left arm), me, Narciso, the right hand of Paolo with a pint of bitter, Paolo, Ornella (the back of his head).

Shop of Westminster Abbey. Maybe there will be a marry the 29th of April…

And in another shop there is a salute from the Queen.

28mm scale to show the construction of the underground. Museum of Transport.

The dock outside Canal Museum.

New London Architecture and a view on the development of the city. It is not a dead city like Rome, here there is a plan for the future realised in the present. London is a great city.

Salute is hell. After one hour you get lost and nothing seems to have a sense. Too many stuff to see. I don’t think to play a thing, I cannot understand what to do, what to buy. I have some investing plans, but I am afraid by aeroport controls and limits to baggages. Sometime I find miniatures that I watched only on the web and I think that would be great to have them. I only buy things that is difficult to have through internet (single pieces or excessive postal recharges). At the end of the day I have got only a little bunch of lead, nothing if you think about the tons available in that hangar full of lead people. I put in my mind the next things to buy by mail, but it is a long list.

To only watch the hall you spent 4/5 hours, so here there is only a little selection.

6mm are the best for large battles…

More than a set for a game this is a set for a museum.

I like trenches and these are the best I have ever saw.

Go aerial! Victorian dog fight with antennas!

Moongose new Judge Dread range.

Cluedo + Chthulu = detective madness!

Dr. Who game with reneactors.

Amusement park for miniatures.

007 from ’60-’70 flicks.

Circus Maximus for all.

I don’t mind the game, I like the buildings: they are from Germany.

Under the Japanese sea.

Mechanic warrior with a touch of Japan. We want always more robots, and I bought the littler to convert to a Britain robot.

Resin miniatures. So beautiful that you forget if there is a game with them, you want them and this is all.

You can hear a lot of Italian voices around. A holiday to London is not so posh in these times. But if you are a Gioconomicon reporter you can travel during the night to do a “to Salute and back” in a single day! These people are crazy!

I met Angelo and other people from Campania, they are of Timewarp miniature store here in Italy. And I found the 1-48 table with the demonstrative game. I met him a lot of times in the last 6 months: Lucca, Modena, Agliana and now London. The game and the miniatures are beautiful so he put a lot of efforts to spread it. I hope for him all the best. And now they have some resin building (a new range from Baueda) to sell too, that you can see on his terrain. A compact game that is almost lost in the hall, but that is very good.

It is inconceivable to set all this for only a 10-17 show. And people after the 15 start to abandon the Salute hangar! Maybe it is time to start to make the piss because it is Saturday, but we from Italy are awesome. We think of Salute like the best of the best as wargame event, we travel to stay here, and people in England leave the show so early…

Time to repackage what I bought. Only this?

I thought we were in winter but I found summer. So my friend wear only a t-shirt while I’m destroyed by too heavy clothes. Almost 7 hours around in the hangar. Heat and fatigue. We are ready for a shower. Luca instead is inside the hangar working for the show. We have offered our support but they had enough people.

The next year… there will be another Salute. Will we are here again? I hope so.