Forces of Valor (FOV) / Unimax Deep Dive: Pt 72 Set #83504 (2004)-#93504 (2004) US 82nd Airborne Division (Normandy 1944) Pt 4 Pose 4

The last of three figures in Sets #83504/#93504.

Ed

FOV U.S. Infantry Pose 4

MPC Convoy - My 2nd Chat GPT Image

With it being so hot, it's a bit rough going out in The Cave right now so I'm stuck doing whatever I can on the PC. Bored with what I was doing, I decided to break out the Chat GPT again and see what kind of cool stuff I could come up with. I have the free version of Chat GPT which only allows me to do four images a day and I don't know if there's a monthly cap or not, but I managed to get a few cool images done today.

Ed

Going to the folder of my MPC setups, this photo of a convoy of MPC vehicles - taken in 2017 - seemed like a good candidate.

After opening the Chat GPT app, I uploaded the figure and typed in one command:

"add background that looks like the European countryside".

Wait approximately 40seconds.

That's it.

As it was rendering the final product I thought, "Dang, I forgot to tell it to add ground cover, not just the backdrop." I needn't have worried as the program added ground cover, buildings, stone walls, background, etc.

This is what I got!

As a collector, modeler, blogger there are several limitations that present themselves:

-I don't have the money to buy all the really cool diorama supplies and accessories  needed to do something like this

-There's no room in The Cave for a permanent display of this size

-I'm too tired. The energy to do projects of this scope using actual modeling just isn't there. Of late, just getting up in the morning is a major undertaking!

All of this means that AI becomes a tool for enhancing my old photos in a way I would never have thought possible. I get it that AI is the latest bad boy, the latest object of hate in the world (as humans we seem to have an in-bred need to hate something, anything, or anyone) but as long as everyone knows that any images presented were enhanced by AI, there shouldn't be any bitches, gripes, or groans! Right now, I'm a proponent of showing 'before' and 'after' shots so people can see the process and the results, which in-turn becomes a teaching tool for anyone on the fence about using AI. 

Forces of Valor (FOV) / Unimax Deep Dive: Pt 71 Set #83504 (2004)-#93504 (2004) US 82nd Airborne Division (Normandy 1944) Pt 3 Pose 3

Besides the Bazooka Guy (my favorite Little Green Army Man), I also really like Tommy Gun guys. I think the Tommy Gun is cool and invokes so many memories of shows I used to watch as a kid.

Ed

FOV U.S. Infantry Pose 3

BREWERIANA: Wolf-Keramik (Mogendorf, Germany) Handmade, Salt-Glazed Decanter with 4 Shot Glasses

For our latest Breweriana post we have this beautiful decanter and shot glass set. I bought this in the small town of Mogendorf in the Westerwald (State of Rhineland-Pfalz), very near my wife's hometown. Towns like Mogendorf and Ransbach-Baumbach, which are close to my wife's house, have numerous small craftsmen all producing the Westerwald's most famous commodity: blue-gray ceramicware, the blue-gray finish being the result of the salt glazing (Salzglasur). This particular set I guess would still be considered 'blue-gray' even though it has more of a golden hue to it.

Ed

The Idea File: Flintstones Doodles

I have some more Flintstones stuff I'd like to post but am not quite ready. There's a set which has all of the components photographed but I still need to set it up and take a video. That said, it's also 111°F outside where I need to set it up! Yeah, it might not happen for a week or two.

Anywho, I have some doodles I made based on the opening credits and other scenes from the cartoon, hoping these would be an inspiration for a future project. I s'pose I was bored when I did these, but will post them anyway to keep the Flintstones flow going.

Ed