BAYKO Sets #0 to #3 Instruction Manual -
April, 1954 - 13th Issue

This Instruction Manual was produced by Plimpton for their basic range of BAYKO sets - sets #0 to #3, and was the bread and butter of BAYKO's heydays, with a total of 20 issues being printed.

It is print coded April, 1954 and designated as being the “13th issue”. This is quite strange as there is a second run of this manual, with the same date code, but designated as “14th issue”. The printer, even the run quantities are the same.

I think that we can fairly assume that this is the earlier of the two print runs, based on the issue numbers, and I suggest that the confusion lies in a failure to change the printer's date code for the second run. That, of course, makes it impossible to be specific as to exactly how long this particular version ran for…

…but it overlaps with set #3X manuals printed in November, 1953 and probably September, 1954 and the new August, 1954 sets #0 to #4 manual.

The manual was printed by J.H. Leeman Ltd., Leighton Printing Works, Neston, Wirral. It has a full colour cover, the rest of the 40 pages are printed in red, green and black on white, gloss paper.

Page 33 [below] contains an ongoing anomaly. The list of new parts included in sets #3X and #4 continues to omit the Dome and both the Pinnacle Roof and Platform, despite the fact that these were certainly included following the launch of set #4 early in 1952.

Size - 250mm x 185mm = 9.8 x 7.3 inches.
It is labelled as the 13th issue.
Number of this version that were printed - 50,000.

If you would like to see the manual hot off the press, as it were…