BAYKO Post-War Sets Support Leaflets - 1946 to 1947

I have to admit, I've struggled for a long time with these documents, which, self-evidently, are not manuals, before finally including them in the manuals section. So why have I taken this eccentric plunge…?

…well, at least one of these documents was included with every set throughout 1946 and early 1947…

…and, perhaps more significantly, they hold information which, on every other occasion, formed part of a manual.

Immediately after the war the government pushed all manufacturers to export as much as possible. It is, therefore, possible that these leaflets, which could easily be replaced by a foreign language equivalent, were part of a strategic decision, by Plimpton, to support the export market with minimum use of scarce resources. Against this is the fact that no such foreign language document has been found to date, so it may, simply, have been cost and/or material availability based - it would have been cheaper to produce the single sheets than extra pages in the main manual.

These documents were both part of the austerity driven, apparent chaos of the post-war manuals/literature scenario. The conflict between austerity and the gradual unveiling of the increasing range of BAYKO sets over time, creating regular need for difficult sourcing decisions.

This double-sided leaflet was included in all the early post-war sets #0 and #1 alongside the 8 page and the 16 page early manuals, certainly for the domestic market. Neither of these manuals contained a set contents list. This leaflet became redundant when the manual size was increased to 20 pages and the set contents were included, early in 1947. Printing is black ink on white paper.

The front [below, left] contains set range and set contents information, though only for for sets #0 and #1. Of particular interest is the, unfortunately optimistic, prediction of a range of BAYKO sets up to set #5.

There is a slightly earlier Canadian document which actually extends this 'anomaly' to include sets up to set #6…

There is a second inaccuracy in that there is a reference to set #2 being the largest size available. Had that been the case, why not include the set #2 contents on this sheet and why were the earliest manuals restricted to sets #0 and #1?

One other question remains, where, if at all, did conversion set #0X fit into the range of BAYKO at the time.  No conversion set contents are included in this list or any of those in the 20 page manuals which made this leaflet redundant.

The rear [below, right] contains the lists of parts required to build the models shown in the contemporary manuals.

This single-sided leaflet was included in all the early post-war sets #2 alongside the 16 page early manuals, certainly for the domestic market. This manual did not contain a set contents list. This leaflet too became redundant when the manual size was increased to 20 pages and the set contents were included, early in 1947. Printing is again in black ink on white paper, but with an additional red ink section at the bottom. I can't help but think this points towards other version without, or with different scripts for the red bits, but have found no such versions to date.

The document [below] contains set #2 contents information, pure and simple, begging the question as to how conversion set #1X was catered for and when it emerged. Conversion sets in general are just not catered for at all, not even when this sheet was replaced by the first 20 page manual. However, perhaps I'm reading too much into this - Plimpton didn't actually include the conversion set contents until in any of their post-war manuals until 1951.

There is also a questionable statement in that there is a reference to purchasing set #2X to convert your set #2 into a set #3. Certainly when this document was first produced, set #2X was not available - but at least the young appetites would have been whetted.