BAYKO - MECCANO Era Summary

1959 : - MECCANO took over Plimpton in September or thereabouts...

1960 : - MECCANO completely retooled BAYKO. The process took many months and BAYKO almost disappeared from the shops over that period, indeed MECCANO Magazine only heralded the rebirth in its September edition and also tells us that product didn't begin to reach the shops until November!

The dated, more ornate components were dropped - see the photo to the left for more details.

4 sizes of 4-piece roofs [2 beige Roof Ends and 2 light green 'tiled' surfaces] replaced the bulky, red, 1-piece range. This yielded huge packaging and transport savings.

Windows - standard, Large and Curved - were restyled and produced in yellow.

The brick colour scheme was changed to an orange-red & beige.

Some bricks were moulded with central grooves [for Rods] on the reverse. Many modellers regard this as a positive move...

Mirroring Plimpton era sets #0 to #3, BAYKO sets #11 to #14, were produced [following MECCANO's own sets #1 to #10.]

1962 : - In August 1962, MECCANO launched a range of new BAYKO parts both separately and in set #15 [and #14c conversion set] : -

3 sizes of Pantile Roof [B to D].

2 styles of Roof Ends, Boarded and Waney Edge, both available in 4 sizes.

A 3-piece Dormer Window set [matching the earlier MECCANO era Roof D]. The Window [4 Bricks long] could be used separately.

2 other window types - French Windows (opening) and a large Picture (or Shop) Window.

A strange piece called a Display Shelf

1963 : - Late in 1963 MECCANO began to retool bricks to the "Flanged" or "Minimalist" style : -

These and other components returned to the red and white colour scheme.

Several other parts were retooled to the new style.

The decision to pull the plug on BAYKO must have been made during this retooling, as it was never completed.

Only the 2 smaller Roof Ends [A & B] were retooled; there are no known retooled examples of the 2 larger ones [C & D].

1964 : - The Plimpton Engineering Company Ltd., was formally dissolved on January, 1st, 1964...

...so presumably BAYKO production ceased before January 1964...

...or so I thought until I looked in more detail at a late, 'Flanged Brick' set #12, dated April 11th, 1964...

You might be interested to know that the managing director of the MECCANO Company resigned shortly afterwards...

Never-the-less, BAYKO was still being listed in the MECCANO price list, dated July 1966 - they even put up the price of the residual stock!

Unbelievably, they put the prices up again in the MECCANO price list dated January, 1967!!

Export : - BAYKO had been exported to at least 14 countries during the Plimpton era and I think we can safely assume this continued under MECCANO's management, indeed, given their broader market base, it is probable that the list of export markets increased.

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