C is for Canoes - 6 - KiKo 'Oklahoma Tribe' Carded Bottle Bag

You may remember or be familiar with KiKo (as I will write it)* from Eric Williamson's old site, or more generally their licence to produce some Airfix stuff under their packaging, including, notably, the Medieval fort play set - Robin Hood, well, Brian Berke has sent these to the blog, for a bit of contrast as part of the 'Canoe Season'

 

On the Airfix licence era stuff the logotype is clearly KiKo, on this packageing it's K - I K - O, while I'm sure I've seen it Ki-Ko, and the address details just use the simple Kiko, so you can take your pick!

 

Mexican produced Wild West set, with the almost (for Central/South America) de rigueur Marx copies (the 3" figures being used here), and other accessories, which don't appear to be Marx per se, but the Teepee looks familiar, so it will probably be a copy of someone's?

The bag shots are a bit misleading - given this is a canoe season - as the canoes are almost totally hidden by dint of being stuffed inside the stacked Teepees, which led to some confusion when I was sorting out the images (months after I'd dumped them all in one folder!), as there are several other yellow canoes and a couple of fatter/wide-bodied ones!

 

But in the end I got them all sorted, and you get two, with three crew, two Indians firing bows and a trapper type paddling like fury! These are not Marx copies either, Marx barely bothered with a canoe, using it sparingly in Wild West sets, but chucking it in Boy Scout sets instead, where I think there was a paddler? I don't know whose production these may be based on, but the canoe seems to be a Kiko original, so maybe the crew are too?

 

Kiko on the left, 3" Marx donor in the middle and a Crescent sizer on the right, this is a 'beach-toy' sized set if ever there was one, but I guess, given income levels and the climate in Mexico, it will be designed to be played with outside, in the dirt or dust, and in all weathers?

 

The TeePee, I'm sure I've seen the decoration before, but can't think where, so if anyone has a clue, let the rest of us know! It's also scaled for 54mm figures and gets rather dwarfed by the chap who's supposed to fit his family in it!

 

Many thanks to Brian for these, it's really all about the canoe!

S is for Shop-full of Shelfies!

I've been building up a small stash of shelfies, with lots of help! And while they should have gone-up in August, there's no hard and fast rules here at Small Scale World, so we'll have a quick look now.

These are in Poundland at the moment . . . not unsurprisingly for a pa'nd! Three versions of Buddha on the left, a piratey type, a gardener who had nearly sold out and some white blob at the back which looks a bit Thai!

On the right a new collectable? She's probably already sold-out, more pirates and three ger'nomes, two are off to Pride, the third is a mermaid . . . how long before we have a limited-edition, chrome-plated, super-deform, angry-bird, Star Wars, gay-pride, Funko-mini mermaid-gnome with troll hair Tamagotchi? It's only a matter of time peeps!

Redbox under their Motor Max label, ID'ing a few of the many mechanics out there, this was in TKMaxx a while ago now, so will have gone, but it'll be out there somewhere if you need it, I'll wait for the loose figures to turn-up . . . thinks; might have a few already?

Couple more from TKMaxx, the Siku 8x8 swamp-hog is about 25/28mm compatible, and would seem to need a matt khaki re-spray and a recoilless rifle or ATGM mounting! The other Redbox has no figures either, but was interesting for being credited to the French Motormax Toy 'Factory' in Villepinte (my qoutes), via the 200 Horton Road, Middlesex office (UK) but 'manufactured' by RBI (Redbox International) in Rialto, California, yet "MADE IN CHINA"! Ultimately it's all Tai Sang!

These came from Brian Berke, our roving reporter in New York, rather at the infant end of the spectrum, the one on the left though has nice, realistic fire appliances (quite collectable) with deformed mini-vehicles you think must be from another line! While I'm strangely drawn to the three slightly deformed mini-AFV's on the otherwise aircraft card - just the sort of stuff which turns-up in mixed lots at car-boot sales or charity-shops!

Also from Brian came this Mexican, traditional style bagged rack-toy with header card and a collection of Marx 3" copy figures and various (non-Marx?) accessories. It might have a bit of age, but a lot of that Mexican stuff turns-up on evilBay, issued by KiKo or Ki-Ko (aren't they the people who did the licensed version of Arfix's Robin Hood play-set in the 1980's?). There's a yellow canoe in the Tee-Pee, which will return to the Blog soon . . . 'ish . . . I hope! It's my bad!

Peter Evans sent us this one at the beginning of September (where did that month go?), via Faceplant messages, so it would have missed RTM ayway, shot at the Gift and Promotional show in Birmingham the other month. A mix of stuff, some of which we've seen before.

Nothing special, but the stone towers with their industrial-looking doors might make a useful sci-fi accessory, suitably repainted, and there is a couple of new trucks and some M60's with ERA if I'm not mistaken? I don't know who's carrying it, but at two quid wholesale, it shouldn't be more than £3.50/£3.99 when you find it?

Thanks to both Brian and Peter for the contributions, shelfies sorted, still out there now!