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Friday, April 21, 2017

Ideal #I-4706 All Action U.S. Destroyer

Here's a toy I've had in the collection for some years now and even had a place on my old train layout. The Ideal Destroyer is part of their armada of ships, submarines, cargo ships, etc., dating back to the '50s and '50s (as a kid I had their plastic submarine which, if you put baking soda in the hull, was s'posed to make it float up and down). On boxes I've seen the ship is described as, "Ideal's All-Action U.S. Destroyer" and has roating gun turrets with guns which raise and lower. Many times those guns become so loose they are in a permanently droopy state but fortunately mine all keep their places nicely. The ship was also equipped with plasic torpedoes but some previous owner made real nice ones out of wooden dowels that work just fine in the torpedo launcher, however they're a tad bit too thick in the mid-section to fit into any of the on-deck torpedo holders. Apparently the on-deck holders were the reason that so many of the original topredoes are now missing as the tight fit caused them to break. Also, to provide more action to the toy, there would have been 6 red plastic depth charges with it originally. My sample has one broken off searchlight and the top deck, has discolored from its original white to a cream color, and is missing the depth charges but it is still an attractive display piece. It measures 15"(38.1cm) L x 3" (7.62cm) W x 3 1/4" (8.25cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina





























4 comments:

  1. Now . . . THAT is a lovely toy! It's worth finding a donor to replace the odd bits. Thanks for showing that Ed!

    H

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    1. These don't come up for sale often except at the more ritzy auction sites. Granted, I don't often do searches for these, but when I do they inevitably are missing the torpedoes. I think I'm okay with this one :-)

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  2. Thank-you for your article. I found this boat at an estate sale and was doing research for resale in my Vintage Etsy shop. Mine has the wheels and torpedos missing as well. Everything else appears intact (based off of your picures).
    My Etsy shop is NaKoVa (in case someone is looking to add this boat to their collection).

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    1. Thank you! I'll have to check out your Etsy site. I have gotten some really cool toys from Etsy vendors and sometimes forget about it in my quest for collecting. These boats tend to come up on eBay in spurts: sometimes you see a bunch at one time followed by long dry spells.

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