The accepted wisdom to this point has been that there are 12 colours, initially eight and then four further colours were added between 1952 and 1967. The eight colours are Red, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Black, White, Old Gold, Green and Tangerine. Maroon amd Yellow were added in 1952, Grey in 1955 and then Mauve, very 1967. The reality was a little more complicated. The flat bases were originally sold in blue, red, black and white in 1947. By the time the first catalogue appeared in the summer of 1948 the number of colours had grown to seven as light blue was not offered for sale until a few months later.

Several of the colours have few matching teams, although that did not stop people using them as some of the combinations that come up for sale demonstrate. Needless to say blue and red are often found today but some of the other colours are much harder to find. Where it starts to get interesting is that a different shade of say dusky blue or mustard yellow can significantly improve the appearance of a team. This brings us to a key issue in Subbuteo bases.

I do not imagine many people see significant numbers of flat bases but most collectors will recognise that there are more than twelve colours and stable shades within those colours. What is unknown is whether these shades came and went over time, perhaps due to new raw materials, manufacturers, technology, additional subcontracted production and so on.



There may be some common threads in the shades and one suspects this means we may be able to allocate some to a particular company or location and time period. For example, there seems to be distinct dusky and soft shades in most colours. I have considered other words to describe the dusky shades but flat seems open to misinterpretation and dark inappropriate. Once you start to look for dusky shades they start to jump out at you and there are clear ones in yellow, green, red and light blue. White has a clear Polar White and a much softer shade that may be its dusky shade. Red has a stunning terracotta red and light blue what I can only describe as a dirty light blue shade. I am going to look at the shades/colours in more detail on the next page, because first I think we need to look at how production developed.

As this appears to be the most problematic area in subbuteo flats it is nothing short of astonishing that none of the people who talked to Peter Adolph sort to clear up some of the key questions with him. There are many contradictions in what has been published by others in this area and huge gaps in our knowledge.

If, for now, we assume that the un-named company in Maidstone produced the trials and the first common subbuteo bases what happened next? As the company grew it started to bring more of the contracted out elements of the game in house. Many of the elements of the game have links - how many contain the unmistakable wire for example. Over time we find that plastic mouldings become more common throughout the range. This inevitably leads to the question when were moulding operations brought in-house?

At some point the Medway Tool Company took over production of moulded items, but we cannot be certain that they exclusively produced all moulded items. At this point the writings of others start to diverge. I think it only fair to look at the different versions and ask for opinions and evidence.

Why did Peter Adolph bring moulding operations in house by buying Medway in 1960? He may simply have remembered the early base problems and wanted to control the flow of supplies. He was a friend of the owner of Medway, Roy Tickle, but there must have been more to it than that. It could have been part of a grand scheme to move to the next phase, but if it was part of the plan to move to moulded players why did he so quickly sell the moulding company to Scalextric? It might have been a temporary solution until the new production facilities in Gibraltar and Barcelona came on line. Whatever the reason it was a crucial turning point in the future of the company.

The new OO Scale figures were launched in the run up to Christmas 1961 and it was the beginning of the end for the flat player. Newfooty also ceased trading in 1961 although this was probably not due to the new moulded player as he arrived too late in the year. The story goes that Newfooty ordered a television advertisement but a last minute programme change meant it missed the target audience. With large stocks piled to meet the expected demand from the advert Newfooty simply ran out of cash. Although an attempt was made to revive Newfooty in 1963 the bitter rival was gone. In the years to the takeover of Subbuteo by Waddington in 1968 turnover of the comapny increased tenfold. It was the new moulded figures everyone wanted, much the same as collectors today.

Back to the mouldings. It is possible that bases were bought in from another company until 1960 and from Medway for some of this time. In his excellent book Peter's son Mark suggests Medway started producing bases in 1956 and I assume from the Maidstone company before then. I would very much have liked Mark to clear this problem up but unfortunately he cannot. Most people believe that it was after acquiring Medway and seeing the figures they produced for the likes of Hornby that Peter had the idea for the OO Scale figures. However, in his book Richard Payne suggests a different version. Given that he was one of the few writers who had access to Peter Adolph to write his book this makes matters very confusing. If Payne got it wrong why did Peter Adolph not correct his version?

Payne suggests that moulding was already being done in house using Medway moulds. Further he tells us that it was Peter Adolph who had the idea of moulded figures and it was Subbuteo, not Medway, producing figures for the likes of Scalextric. Payne then goes on to tell us that the moulding factory was leased to Lines Bros. (Scalextric) in late 1963 when Subbuteo Limited (Plastics) was sold to that company. Following the sale all figure production moved to Barcelona and Gibraltar, although bases are not mentioned.

Of course, if the Maidstone company, Medway, Subbuteo Plastics, Gibraltar and Barcelona and possibly other subcontractors at busy times all took part in base production at various points it is no wonder the colours varied. When you add in technology and material changes this offers further variations.


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