BAYKO Sets #0 to #3 Instruction Manual -
August, 1959 - 20th 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 August, 1959, and designated as being the “20th issue”. It is, therefore, the last of its kind. The printer's code also tells us that 100,000 copies were printed.

This manual overlaps the sets #0 to #4 manuals printed in January, 1957, briefly, and, finally, September, 1959.

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.

Given that this, the 20th issue, was date coded just a month before the MECCANO takeover, it's remarkable just how many changes have been created - not all of them necessary. I have decided to comment on each one separately.

The script, inside the red box in the middle of the inside of the front cover [below], has been modified to include a reference to the [then] new Opening Doors.

The set contents list for both standard and conversion sets on page 1 [below] has been modified to include, not just the Opening Doors, but also the Ramp and the T.V. Aerial. However, for some reason, The Ramp is missing from the conversion set contents list, so we can't be absolutely sure that set #1X actually includes one!

This is a rather strange one. Page 16 [below] had been the scene of a strange anomaly when the the title of the right hand model was printed in green in the 18th issue. This was corrected in the 19th issue, but, for some reason, over half the line has slipped in this, the 20th issue.

Page 32 [below] incorporates a modest change to the script in the green box in the top right hand corner, which had remained unchanged since converting set #3X was introduced in 1951.

Page 33 [below] contains a long-overdue change. The list of new parts included in sets #3X and #4 has finally been modified to include the Dome and both the Pinnacle Roof and Platform, despite the fact that these were actually included following the launch of set #4 early in 1952.

Page 34 [below] has been substantially modified to include, for the first time, pictures of the Opening Doors, Ramp and T.V. Aerial. This was done at the expense of the four styles of Turret and the Dome. Along with the Pinnacle Roof and Platform these parts were soon to be dropped, by MECCANO, after the takeover - was this a pointer to Plimpton's view of these parts?

Size - 250mm x 185mm = 9.8 x 7.3 inches.
20th Issue.
Number of this version that were printed - 100,000.

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