Officer Gordon Highlanders, Tropical Sevice Dress

[fantomark]

HI!

On the Saturday, I turned up at the show in an "English" (as opposed to Scottish) Victorian Colonial uniform;

[fantomark]

Last year In Italy we celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy , so no surprise that many "Victorian Era" re-enactors turned up in the Risorgimento uniform and kit such in high demand last year!
Among the various uniforms, the Garibaldini Redshirts were perhaps the most popular and most numerous ones.

[fantomark]

This said , Storitalia 2012 was a truly multi-period event , with many differnt uniforms from all periods and for all tastes!

[fantomark]

However, the ACW (and particularly the "Rebs") here in Italy still remains the most favourite Victorian Era period, and Storitalia was no exception!

Ciao!!

[Mark A. Reid]

Ciao Marco;

Egad! Our Sandhurst graduate has passed through a time warp and fallen amongst banditti!

What a fine collection of uniforms, obviously these people take the hobby very seriously too and have sunk a great deal of time and resources into their kit. By the way, your FS cap looks good, and probably more comfortable on a hot day than the helmet. Please post more photos.

Ciao,

Mark

[fantomark]

Thanks , Mark!

I don't think I have any more pics of Storitalia 2012.

However, I must inform you that for the 2013 Edition, I have promised the arrival of a special guest from overseas in the uniform of an Egyptian Army (British) Colonel, Sudan Campaigns era... I know you will not let me down!!



Ciao!

Marco

[fantomark]

Marco,
We would love to read and see more about the Italian wars in Africa. I recommend posting in the "Other Victorian Wars Chat" section.

Thank you,
Jonathan

PS--It is great to see you posting here again!

Thanks Jonathan!
I will dig in my library for some pics, and I will post something in the near future - nice to know that it would be of interest!

Ciao!

Marco

[Mark A. Reid]

Grazzi Marco, I'll get my tarboosh re-blocked and start packing the camels!

Cheers,

Marco

[fantomark]

Ciao Marco;

Egad! Our Sandhurst graduate has passed through a time warp and fallen amongst banditti!

What a fine collection of uniforms, obviously these people take the hobby very seriously too and have sunk a great deal of time and resources into their kit. By the way, your FS cap looks good, and probably more comfortable on a hot day than the helmet. Please post more photos.

Ciao,

Mark

Quite right, Mark!

And following that a Jump into the future:

Last Sunday the Sandhurst Time Traveller has suddenly ended up in Viet Nam at the time of the 1968 TET OFFENSIVE.
Have a look at the attached pics !!

These were taken at our FULL METAL JACKET trophy at the Fidenza Range (near Parma) last Sunday .
It was a target shooting competition for all rifles used in the Viet Nam Conflict .

The weather was really horrible, and the waterproof poncho came handy, not just for the proper look!
The incessant rain did discourage many competitors from coming, but it was good fun in the end! I generally don't like modern guns, but the M16 is an exception (and , well, not so modern in 2012 after all!).
As you know I had to sell my previous one to by my "Young Winston" C-96 Mauser (which I have never fired, by the way...), but as soon as I got a good opportunity I managed to buy another one.
Vietnam era M-16 / AR-15 are really rare now here in Italy.
I was lucky in fact to find another one so soon after selling my previous one.
unfortunately their collectors value is greatly reduced, though, since to be legally owned they MUST be converted from fully auto to semi-auto.
However I like to think positive and just say: "Well , still better here than in those countries where all semiauto military rifles can not be legally owned at all !!"


Ciao!

Mark

[Mark A. Reid]

Ciao Marco;

Great pictures, I can almost smell the wet poncho! I presume that you were wearing complete Victorian uniform underneath, or do the hat and kerchief qualify you as a Victorian re-enactor?

I look forward to seeing any more Massawa-related pictures.

Ciao,

Mark

[fantomark]

Ciao Marco;

Great pictures, I can almost smell the wet poncho! I presume that you were wearing complete Victorian uniform underneath, or do the hat and kerchief qualify you as a Victorian re-enactor?

I look forward to seeing any more Massawa-related pictures.

Ciao,

Mark

Quite right Mark!
Let's go back to the Victorian Era, then - I can well understand that TET 1968 is outside the time frame of the VWF!

Yesterday we had our local Old West Shootnig Competition, and the Italian Cowboys and Bandidos attending the event were decidedly surprised to see a member of the Canadian Contingent in Boer War uniform at the registration desk !

Ciao!


Marco

PS: I will soon post some photos of the Italian Occupation of Massowa...
Sorry for the delay, just a bit too much shooting and re-enacting lately..

[fantomark]

..In fact, there was another "Canadian" re-enactor !!

He was dressed as Canadian Mountain Man, in spite of the warm weather (some sunshine at last after two weeks of incessant rain!) he was strikingly attired in buckskins and fur hat ; and he came out on top with his 1866 model Wichester!

Ciao!

Marco

[Oswald Bastable]

An excellent selection of photos Mark, thanks for posting them. Might I ask where you got your 'english' blue jacket from?

[fantomark]

Ciao, and sorry for the very late reply.
Unfortunately , due to a desperate shortage of spare time , I have had no time to write in or even have a look at the forum, lately!!

The Blue "English" uniform was locally made by an experienced seamstress here in Italy (near Milan) specializing in Historical uniforms of all periods.
She can make to order actually almost any uniform one could dream of (though uniform deisgn must be provided by the customer and buttons , rank badges etc. should be procured separately).

Attched are a few more pics of the same uniform taken at the latest TIRO STORICO COMPETITION SHOW at Lodrino, near Brescia.
(By the way, one of the Tiro Storico organizers my very close friend Kevin Fisher, aka KEVINO is a also a member of the VWF)

Here are a couple of links to Youtube videos of the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iG9Oe7M ... ature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XkDQsYy ... ature=plcp

The Long Lee is admittedly a bit late for the rest of the uniform, but it is one of my favourite guns!!

Cheers!

Mark

[Oswald Bastable]

More great photos Mark , I'm positively green with envy