MOKO Crawler Dilemma

[Ewan]

I'm getting rather interested in the 'other' manufacturers of late, probably something to do with the fact that until I joined this forum I didn't know most of them existed - as a 70s child my toybox was Matchbox/Corgi/Dinky with a few Majorette and a single Lone Star I found on the shore one day. Even the suitcase of my dad's old toys which were occasionally allowed near was 100% Dinky.

I took the plunge this week and ended up with one of those 'Dinky' joblots you occasionally see on ebay which contain no Dinky whatsoever. Two that caught my eye were Moko Crawler Tractors. I see many in orange, and the other common colour seems to be this darker red (which I prefer)

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I was also aware of a blue version which seems to be much rarer than the other two, but the second one in 'my' joblot was black. I could see no red or orange in the rather grainy photo so wondered if I'd stumbled on a 4th colour variation. Hmmmmm - not quite!

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So I have a rare blue one, but it's black! I have had a little go at it, but the black seems to stick to the blue nearly as well as the blue sticks to the metal. What would you do - go for a blue model with maybe up to half the paint missing or leave it alone?

Comparing the 2 side by side I can only see one casting difference, at the bottom of the second set of bonnet louvres. As this is where some examples have 'Moko' lettering cast in there must be at least 3 different castings.

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One last question - who made them?

[Moyboy]

Try getting some Meths and rubbing the black with cotton buds soaked in it. It takes a while and a lot of buds but eventually the paint will soften and come off - use a toothpick the same way to get in corners etc. I would then leave the blue as is even with paint missing. I did my soapbox cart like this which was covered in grey paint and came out great with almost 90% original paint on left.
No idea who made them for Moko and probably never will but they are always called 'Moko Lesney' which is totally wrong.

[nickjones]

Moko never made toys but were a factor that sold toys made by other companies, Their name appears on some of their toys and some of the boxes but who actually made the toys is a mystery which I doubt we will ever resolve.