BAYKO - “Mottling”

It won't come as a major surprise to anybody familiar with plastic, even today, that virtually every piece of plastic, such as a BAYKO part, is in a single colour…

…but that's definitely not the end of it…

…Plimpton also experimented with 2 colour plastics, producing a mottled effect for selected plastic parts between 1935 and approximately 1947.

The earliest BAYKO examples are the special coloured roofs which were included with the larger Ornamental Additions sets and then set #6…

…the dark mottling being clearly visible against the lighter background [left, a slightly later version].

As an aside, they did further experiments on parts which never made it to market…

The earliest 'Oak' bricks and Arches were also included in these sets.

I understand that this mottling was, initially at least, achieved by the addition of sawdust into the mix prior to moulding…

…a nice cheap additive I'm sure…

…however, the process must have evolved because parts like the 'Oak' pillars are too thin and need a different 'impurity'.

The mottling of BAYKO Screwdrivers is, at least, better understood, and was definitely done deliberately, if not officially.

These Screwdrivers [right] are certainly distinctive and popular with collectors. They were made by throwing a mixture of different coloured pelletised ingredients into the mould…

…it wasn't a promotional idea as many collectors thought…

…it was a more of friday afternoon phenomenon.

We are all familiar with the occasional mental aberrations that occur as people become a little 'demob happy' with the approaching weekend in view…

..and the BAYKO factory clearly wasn't immune!

An interesting detail is that several of the colours concerned often don't occur in the normal BAYKO range, perhaps adding evidence of a small sideline, producing plastic parts for other companies?

On the other hand, they may just have been using up of job lots of odd or even mixed colours…

…acquired, 'at a knock-down price', from a sales rep.

So why did Plimpton do this?

The answer is probably “because they could” and, perhaps slightly more cynically, because the additions, like sawdust, 'Wood Flour' to the trade, were cheap.

However, that doesn't really do justice to the finished product. 'Oak' models are always extremely popular at exhibitions. There is no doubt that the 'Oak' Bricks [left] had a 'warmth' to them which was much loved by those fortunate enough to own them in childhood…

…and they're not exactly unpopular today!

The mottled windows, which appeared, though rarely, both pre-war and post-war are, perhaps, a little more difficult to understand.

They may well have been interesting and possibly seen as attractive…

…but they weren't exactly prototypically accurate…

…who do you know with [deliberately!] spotty window frames?

I suspect this is also true for the mottled windows, both pre-war and post-war - always assuming, of course, that they were produced deliberately…

…there always remains the cock-up theory, which I normally tend to prefer, because it could easily have been caused by inconsistent mixing of ingredients during production.

There is, however, no doubt that the very rare 'Oak' Curved Windows must to have been deliberately made - after all, there was no base-line brown Curved Window to have been cocked up - though these also exist as rarities - so, you pays your money and takes your choice!

BAYKO Collectors Club member, Peter Crooke, who knows a thing or two about plastic, tells me that, certainly the later mottled product, and the earlier non-oak mottled product could, indeed probably would, have been produced using mixed colour ingredients. This is corroborated by the visible evidence of 'smearing' in relatively thin items as individual pellets were squeezed, yet were held apart by the relatively strong surface tension of the individual melted pellets.

Special mention should be made of one other item…

…mottled brown bases [left].

Just like 'Oak' Pillars, they aren't listed anywhere as an official BAYKO colour variant, and may not even have been produced deliberately, but there are sufficient in existence to enable me to be confident in saying that they really do exist!

The one here is shown courtesy of Bob Burgess - click on the picture to reveal a larger image where it is much easier to see the mottling.

Can you throw any light on the rationale behind the mottling in any or all of its forms? If so, then I'd love to hear from you…

In the mean time, below are details of, at 34 items, a surprisingly long list of mottled BAYKO parts, so…

…“on with the motley” : -

Sorry - just couldn't resist!!!

One further query remains. There are occasional examples of Floors which display mottling with small, slightly lighter brown patches.

Floors are made from Resin Bonded Paper, [R.B.P.] the same stuff that is still used today in computer boards. As this is a widely used, specialist material, I strongly suspect that the Paxolin [the main brand name] was bought in, in large sheet form, then punched in house. I have seen an example where a suppliers label has been punched through.

This means, to me, it is pretty well certain that this mottling was the result of a slight inconsistency in production quality in the basic pellets which were supplied to the R.B.P. manufacturer.

Well, that's it as far as my knowledge runs, I'll add any others that I learn of as and when I get any further information. If you can help educate me about any aspect of mottled product…

…in the mean time, my sincere apologies for the awful ,“on with the motley”, joke!

I will add the photos above - soon!