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Hit by a sudden fit of "Jamesmayite" :tongue-out3: here is the translation (with interpretation as it's written in a pompous mid 19th century Italian):
"Giuseppe Garibaldi was hosted in this house on April 29th and 30th 1862 during his national shooting ranges inauguration tour".
Sounds weird in first instance, but it makes sense considering that Garibaldi always raised his troops among the populace and his cadres among the bourgeoisie, thus a net of national shooting ranges was a way of providing basic shooting training to local "in being" militia. In 1862 the Kingdom of Italy was just 1 year old and large parts of its eastern regions were still under Austrian Empire rule and Rome was still under the Pope's government.
Italy is full of plaques like that, celebrating even a simple waving of hand from a window, considering that Garibaldi was, and still is, a major national hero.
Ok, now you can wake up!
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Well, here's a brief update: much digging in the garden, replacing 6.5 tons of grass with (potentially) 4 tons of stone - grass doesn't fare well due to limited sun and a sub-base of London and Kellaways Clay! (Yuk!) I think this is the most impermeable clay sub-base possible so l now have to create a Dutch Drain system before dumping the stone! Anyway, a brief interlude between pain and more pain - progress so far. Tried to represent a tired, battered and grubby squaddie preparing to meet his fate withdignity. Bloodied, bruised and yet still defiant - standing proud! Some more blending, more weathering, and then on with the boots, trousers and puttees. The helmet is in preparation, just needs internals defined and a chin strap added. Anyway , let me know how it's progressing
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Niiiiice!Comment
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Well, not good news for Jake as he's going to reside on the Shelf of Doom for a while; had started a little more basic painting since our return from Ireland and decided to turn my attention to the rifle - created a trigger but then the trigger guard disappeared; so, swore a little and turned my attention to the bayonet. Discarded the kit part as it resembled a piece of 4x2 rather than part of Sheffield's finest, and it had a 'cavity' that only appeared once I started to refine it! I therefore created a blade from scrap plastic - result! Then turned my attention to straightening the deviations along the rifle's length - absolute disaster! Placed it in warm water as normal and gently started straightening and the whole thing broke into three parts as a result of even more voids! I will scratch build the thing eventually but for now the Mojo has just taken a swim round the'U' bend! Anyway, here's how he was starting to shape up...
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