Category:Bayko

Bayko Town Hall, Brighton Toy and Model Museum [image info]

1960 Bayko advert [image info]

Bayko was a British plastic construction system designed for making 1/43-scale ("gauge 0"-scale) model buildings. The name is a reference to "bakelite", the early plastic material that its plastic parts were originally moulded from.

The Bayko system managed to achieve a finer level of detail and architectural realism than many later systems (like the one used by Lego), because its plastic blocks lacked any sort of integral pegging or connecting system, and could therefore be thinner and have finer detail. Bayko blocks were instead held together by being threaded onto vertical metal rods, which (for the lower rods) lined up with holes in the baseboard.

Company history: Plimpton Engineering

Introduced 1933 by Plimpton Engineering Ltd of Liverpool, Bayko was one of the first construction systems (predating plastic Lego by 20 years). Moulded in a Bakelite material the system was promoted as washable and hygienic, and therefore ideal for the sickroom. Originally, all the parts could be ordered in a choice of different colours, but by 1936 the system was substantially revised and simplified.

Bayko continued largely unchanged through to 1959. Some slow-moving parts had vanished (e.g. turrets), glazed windows appeared from 1958, and the material was gradually being changed to polystyrene; finally in 1959 the opening double door and other new parts appeared. It is quite likely that the system faced considerable competition by this time - whatever the reason, in 1959 Plimpton bowed out and sold the entire system to Meccano Ltd.

The brief "Meccano Ltd." years

Meccano’s acquisition of Bayko is an unexplained mystery. Facing immense problems of their own, they then set about totally redesigning Bayko, even retooling parts which were already in polystyrene - as a result the product was effectively off the market for a year. When production did get on the way, the new range seemed to be only halfheartedly promoted: although ideal for Dinky Toys and other 1/43 cars, Bayko never enjoyed much editorial support in Meccano Magazine, in distinct contrast to every other Meccano product.

Despite a further revision in 1962 introducing the no. 15 set and various new parts, the system appears to have been a real failure for Meccano Ltd. Sporadic advertising continued into early 1964, at which stage Bayko was abandoned - that autumn, Meccano’s new plastic construction system, "Cliki" was announced.