Ideal (?) 155mm Self-Propelled Gun - Maybe Not - Let's Try 'Amloid'

After posting photos of my SPG (self-propelled gun) into several facebook groups yesterday I got a lot of very good responses. It appears that my toy was made by Amloid and is a pretty good copy of the earlier Ideal SPG. Let's look at what makes it different.

Ed

Amloid

My toy:

-Non-firing

-Two hatches on turret

-Shell stowage rack is closed off

(Also, here's a link to a YouTube video showing the Amloid version)

Ideal

Check out this copy of the Sears Wishbook from 1964. The reason I couldn't find my toy when perusing my copy of 'The Big Toy Box at Sears' was that I was looking for a single piece - the tank. As it turns out, it was part of a larger set, the Anzio Invader landing craft.

You'll notice two differences in the ad as compared to my toy:

-It fires shells

-It only has one hatch on top of the turret

Photos culled from fleaBay show:

-A single hatch on the turret

-This toy still has the original Ideal sticker

-Notice as well that the shell stowage rack on top of the hull is open, allowing stowage of the shells.

In addition, some fb members stated that these came in various combinations of silver, red, and olive green

fleaBay photo

fleaBay photo

Ideal 155mm Self-Propelled Gun - Olive Green SP

This M53 Self-Propelled Gun was produced from 1952 to 1955 and was used during the Vietnam war until 1969. I only know this is 'Ideal' because that's how everyone sells it. Other than that. I don't know diddley-squat about it. There are no markings on the thing to show it's Ideal and I don't know when the toy was made or which play set it came in. Although it appears to have a stowage rack for four projectiles, it is a non-firing toy. The turret swivels only a few degrees left and right and the gun elevates slightly. It measures  9.25" (23,49cm) L x 4.125" (10,47cm) W x 4.25" (10,79cm) H.

Ed

Lido 60mm figure shown for size comparison

This shot shows how big this rig is. Maybe the 60mm Lido figure is too big? Looks like 54mm figures might be best.

Courtesy Pinterest

Let's Chat: Play Along Toys Eomer on Horseback (Again) and Too Many Flags

Just four days ago I posted a plussed-up photo of Play Along Toys Eomer on Horseback. What I totally forgot to make note of is that occasionally Chat GPT will prepare two images and let you decide which one is better. Such was the case with Eomer on his steed Finrod.

First of all, Chat loves to add flags! Sometimes I'm okay with the flags, but mostly I Photoshop them out of the image instead of letting the Chat program edit it out. Why? Once you start asking the program to make a bunch of edits it totally screws up the image. I've found that if you're not satisfied with the first draft of the picture, one re-edit might solve the issue. If it doesn't - STOP! At this point the program simply becomes befuzzled and will screw up any further edits. It's best to make note of the mistakes and start all over again with more precise instructions.

When the program gave me the option to decide which of the two images I liked most, I decided the first image was the better of the two. The second image has way too many flags in it. I guess I'll need to get in the habit of telling the program not to add any flags at all. What a nuisance.

Ed

Posted 3 Sep

Today's post

I guess all those flags are meant to remind Eomer of where he is!

FOV #82005 German Kübelwagen Type 82 Normandy 1944 (2004) - Pt 4 Top Up

Sooo, I'm asking myself, "Why did I not buy two of these right away?" That way I could've had both a top down and top up version readily available 😄 The side windows are separate pieces that snap into the canvas top, then the top gets placed on the body.

Ed

Let's Chat: Play Along Toys King Theoden on Horseback - Okay but Not Okay

The Chat GPT tries hard to produce a good image, unfortunately it can sometimes go further than what I'd like. Case in point: while I prefer to keep my toys looking like the toys I photographed (with the exception of removing bases from the figures), but surround them with realistic texture and backgrounds, sometimes that doesn't happen. Most of the figures I've shown here have retained their toy-like look, but in a few cases the Chat program altered the figure to look more realistic - and I didn't catch it. It's still a terrific image, but my toy has lost its identity. I now have to specify in my prompts to "remove the base from the figure but do not add details or otherwise change the features" of the toy I want re-imaged.

Ed

This Theoden figure is from Play Along Toys AOME Warriors and Battle Beasts series.

This was the image I chose

The Chat GPT image looks more like Bernard Hill than it does the toy.