BAYKO in 'MECCANO Magazine', March 1962
Sun Life Assurance Building + Buckingham Palace

This is an article about the stunning BAYKO models of Buckingham Palace [which I haven't been in] and the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada Headquarters building in Montreal [which I have been in] - well, almost. We know for certain that the Buckingham Palace, and probably the Sun Life building as well, were built by MECCANO Model Room Manager, Bob Moy - but not from this article.
We know this from an article which appeared in the previous month's edition of 'British Toys', a leading publication for the British toy trade…
BAYKO Buckingham Palace model
MECCANO MAGAZINE, March, 1962, page 102, full page showing the Famous Buildings in Bayko article
I'm aware there are people out there who think I am hard on Mr. MECCANO, but here, again, I think that I can quite easily justify my criticism. Why not read the article and then I'll ask you a question at the end of it - OK?
The text reads as follows : -
Famous Buildings in Bayko.
Two of the exhibits at the Meccano Trade Fair, held recently in London, which attracted the attention of Meccano Dealers from all over the world, were models of Buckingham palace (above) and the Sun Life Assurance Building in Montreal, which you can see illustrated below. Both were built with Bayko, which is manufactured by Meccano Limited at Aintree, Liverpool. The Buckingham Palace model contained 3,595 separate pieces of Bayko. In the construction of the Sun Life Assurance Building 11,684 pieces were used.
The Trade Fair, held at the Grosvenor Hotel, was opened by Lord Brabazon of Tara, well known as an industrialist…
So, what was I beefing about?
The article shows two absolutely stunning BAYKO models, absolutely no complaint about them, far from it, Bob Moy and his team have done another great job…
…but, surely I must get some support for my view that this is yet another missed opportunity, on the part of Mr. MECCANO
BAYKO model of the Sun Life Assurance Building, Montreal, Canada.
…two stunning BAYKO models don't even rate a third of the article…
…the other two thirds plus being about Lord Brabazon of Tara!
Am I wrong? Surely the priority was to push the product, not to provide an ego trip [literal and metaphorical] for the noble Lord Brabazon of Tara!
This is absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have a personal grudge against Lord Brabazon…
…in 1953, I believe it was, the very substantial Bristol Brabazon aircraft, named after the aforesaid luminary, was on a ”tribute flight” over the towns which had contributed to its development. It flew, at low level, straight over our house, in Blackburn, just as I happened to be looking out of an upstairs window, and scared the **** out of the three year old BAYKOMAN! This is actually my earliest memory! I can see it, and, even more so, hear it, now!!!
These two weren't the only official models to be made in BAYKO. If you would like to find out more about BAYKO Supermodels…
BAYKO was a regular advertiser in 'MECCANO Magazine'
There are two other features in 'MECCANO Magazine' which mentioned BAYKO
 
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