My BAYKO Letters

I really can't understand why it's taken me quite so long to create this page - I've alluded elsewhere, more than once, to the events concerned [inconsequential as it sadly transpired] nevertheless it perhaps serves as an early [aged 9, in 1959] example of my megalomaniac tendencies - or perhaps that should simply be delusions of adequacy!

Anyway, that's more than enough of the big build-up!

Actually, the 1959 date is particularly significant in this context. Let me explain : -

At the ripe old age of nine I was hooked - irreparably, and undeniably. The signals were so strong that even the parental radar picked them up, to such an extent that when I was three times that age, the only possession of mine to have survived the intervening parental purges was my BAYKO collection!

However, even this level of psychic pressure couldn't impact the impending bankruptcy of Plimpton.

The events I'm referring to were actually two separate letters which I wrote to the Plimpton Engineering Company Limited, in 1959, with my suggestions for BAYKO's future developments.

Repeated extortion rackets on relatives, and subsequent trips to the Pram Shop in Blackburn, meant my BAYKO collection was already quite large, and I was ready for the next putsch!

Even then I was leaning towards building larger models, beyond the scope of the BAYKO manuals and beyond the range of BAYKO Roofs.

I wrote to Plimpton suggesting that there was an opportunity to expand the range of BAYKO roofs, not least in terms of the size at the top of the range - I was unashamedly looking for bigger roofs - very much at the mansion end of the market! In all honesty, I can't remember if I floated any specific dimensions, but I guess I had in mind something like 11 x 15 bricks [c.f. the 7 x 11 bricks of the Large Roof] and perhaps a larger version of the Flat Roof four-piece units, and even larger Gable Roofs, and…

As I've already alluded to, I got no reply - the board clearly had other priorities at that difficult time - too much on the slate(?) - if only! Sorry, for the umpteenth time, about the painful pun!

My next brilliant idea, a expressed in the second letter [again in 1959] and which sadly also elicited zero response, was, I believe, an even better one - a substantial sales opportunity with effectively zero capital implications for Plimpton…

…or, of course, Mr MECCANO!

In my home town of sunny Blackburn, the Council housing department only had one pot of paint for their Windows and Doors, which perfectly matched BAYKO Green, as did many other towns and cities, Liverpool for one.  Don't get me wrong, I've nothing at all against council houses - or green paint - but when you throw in the [then] accelerating trend away from the 'monochrome colour schemes' of 'wartime austerity', surely the introduction of a more aspirational range of different colours for all BAYKO Windows and Doors was a certain winner - even Mr MECCANO saw the need for a change!

My suggestion was to introduce two sizes of Window and Door Accessory Packs : -

Accessory Pack A - mirroring the contents of set #3  

Accessory Pack B - mirroring the contents of set #3X

Both of these Packs could be available in a wide variety of colours : -

A bit of marketeering imagination could even have floated the “Limited Edition” concept…

…leaving the opposition floundering miles behind in their wake!

BAYKO retailers would surely have really loved them…

…self promoting through a cellophane lid…

…high profit off modest shelf space for minimal effort!

Remember - zero capital cost - inventory costs comfortably financed by the initial sales and a possible “When it's gone, it's gone” approach. Originally, I thought that the idea could easily have transferred to MECCANO era Accessory Packs based on sets #14 and #14C - but…

…I'd misjudged just how heavy handed Mr. MECCANO's penny pinching approach [that I've commented elsewhere on the site, particularly in the set #15 / set #14C area] actually was. Though the complete lack of an upgrade from set#14 to set #15 in this particular context, came as something of a shock even to your cynical webmaster!

The red ink [above] says it all - without major modification to MECCANO era Pack B - it wouldn't have worked…

…but a single Pack colour range based on set #15 still would!