Today House Building Construction Toys are dominated by one name 'Lego'. However there have been others, such as Clicki, Betta Bilda, to mention 2, however, go back to the 1950s and one name dominated 'Bayko.'

Charles Bird Plimpton set up the firm of Plimpton Engineering Ltd in 1933 to manufacture a new construction kit called Bayko.

Bayko took its name from the material Bakelite – an early type of plastic developed between 1907 and 1909 by Dr Leo Bakeland in Belgium.

A typical Bayko set consisted of a base with a grid of holes, thin metal rods in different sizes, a number of wall, door and window pieces, ‘floors’ made of thin Paxolin sheets and a roof, which came in one piece.

The original colours of the sets were dark brown, deep maroon, dull dark olive green and white – but with the advancement of plastic technology in the late 1930s, the colours became brighter and lighter. The base, windows and doors became green, the roof red and the bricks red and white. As with Meccano, accessory sets were available for converting existing sets into bigger and better ones.

Bayko was marketed as an ideal toy for boys and girls of all ages, and as it was washable, was even recommended for sick children to play. As well as houses, sheep pens, a mosque and even Noah’s ark were available to buy as a set.

Production was halted to focus on the war effort in 1941. During this time, the factory produced parts for Wellington bombers. After the Second World War,

Plimpton Engineering continued to manufacture Bayko till 1959 when it was taken over by Meccano.

In 1963 Meccano also started to feel the pressure from competing construction toys such as Lego. Sadly, in February 1964, all advertising for Bayko was stopped, although Meccano continued manufacturing Bayko sets and spares until 1967.