Hornby Britannia

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Do you see physical evidence of the riveted joint moving to a greater extent when you compare your modified Brit with an original condition model of same age/running time?

 

I would be inclined to implement an inspection, monthly with a clean wipe assess any evidence of wear, and relubricate, comparing a pair of locos, modified and original.

 

If there's nothing to see monthly in the way of any evidence of wear by a slight grey tint imparted to the lube, move to quarterly inspection,

 

If there's nothing to see quarterly in the way of any evidence of wear by a slight grey tint imparted to the lube, relax...

 

(I used this technique to assess my WD 2-8-0s after near doubling their weight for tractive purposes. Joints stayed clean at quarterly inspection. Approaching twenty years later they are still trouble free. I did likewise on the two Hornby 9F tender drive chassis I converted to loco drive. Wear debris very evident monthly on the riveted rod joints, repeated failures after two years operation at these locations.)

Edited April 25, 2020 by 34theletterbetweenB&D
to add the element I forgot and correct some wild spelling errors in the reason for edit line...

[scottishsteam]

Hi,

Wondered if anyone may have a spare chimney cap from a Hornby Brit? Seem to have lost the one on my model - so does anyone have a spare/damaged body/one they have removed to replace with a brass chimney? Aware you can get the latter from PDK but not sure that I have the nerve to take a file to a model to remove the bottom half of the Hornby chimney!

 

Thanks,
Andrew.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

If you are prepared to modify a thin brass washer to 7mm internal diameter, 9mm external diameter, that will look well. You can put an edge on it too, then looks better than the blunt Hornby piece...

[PenrithBeacon]

On 23/02/2019 at 20:49, Killybegs said:

The Hornby Brit is a good candidate for conversion to P4 as seen here.

Does that use the Comet chassis kit?

Cheers

[Killybegs]

Yes but with a few modifications, these involved the bogie and pony truck as well as some butchery to the chassis itself. Details are in an article I did for MRJ about 4 years ago.

[PenrithBeacon]

22 minutes ago, Killybegs said:

Yes but with a few modifications, these involved the bogie and pony truck as well as some butchery to the chassis itself. Details are in an article I did for MRJ about 4 years ago.

Doesn't seem to be in the MRJ Online Index

[Killybegs]

2 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

Doesn't seem to be in the MRJ Online Index

 

Its in 2 parts. The alterations to the body are in 248 'A Britannia for Worseter' and those to the chassis in 254 'A Britannia for Worseter Part 2'

[PenrithBeacon]

1 hour ago, Killybegs said:

 

Its in 2 parts. The alterations to the body are in 248 'A Britannia for Worseter' and those to the chassis in 254 'A Britannia for Worseter Part 2'

Thanks for that 

Cheers

[G-BOAF]

I really don't understand why a replacement chimney top has not been made as a direct swap out of the awful Hornby version. I also don't want to cut the bottom half of my chimnies off, but would welcome an option to swap the tops off.

[Fredo]

Been trying to get some sand pipes from Hornby to go with the 1T57 set as someone kindly suggested as they were not in the pack. So far Hornby have sent me two Pony Truck Accessories packs instead, if anyone has any spare sand pipes and would like to swop let me know. Fred

[Hilux5972]

6 hours ago, Fredo said:

Been trying to get some sand pipes from Hornby to go with the 1T57 set as someone kindly suggested as they were not in the pack. So far Hornby have sent me two Pony Truck Accessories packs instead, if anyone has any spare sand pipes and would like to swop let me know. Fred

Sand pipes? Just use some thin brass wire and paint it black. 

[G-BOAF]

Reviving this threat, and suggest the other recent Britannia thread gets merged (indeed there are quite a few Hornby Britannia threads).

 

I've just (partly) rewheeled 70000 Britannia (Diamond Jubilee edition) for the second time (actually a chassis block of n R2992XS Sound fitted Clive of India, but fitted with the wheel set from the original chassis). After running in rear axle was not showing much signs of use, indicating something was not true. Measuring the bearing depths in the chassis block confirmed that all bearings were correctly recessed (in contrast to the chassis that the loco was supplied with, where the centre driver bearing recesses were fractionally too deep, hence my original chassis swap).

I swapped the drivers for another wheel set and then middle axle was skipping, swapped for a third set and the centre driver was too high on one side (diameter too wide by 0.05mm) and rocking... Eventually discovered that on my 'original' wheel set the front axle was very slightly under diameter (about 0.05mm!!!) compared to the middle and rear and with weight ever so slightly forward of axle, rear of loco was lifting an imperceptable amount. Swapped original front axle with a spare pair. Thankfully quartering is the same, and loco finally runs true.

 

Why can't Hornby machine all their tyres to the same diameter and profile. Not too much to ask surely!

 

I'm relieved that the fundamental (and unalterable) dimensions of the chassis block are OK, but the variation across wheels is very disappointing. However its been a rewarding job fettling 70000 up and I feel quite proud of her.

 

 

[John Tomlinson]

On 30/01/2021 at 19:21, Hilux5972 said:

Sand pipes? Just use some thin brass wire and paint it black. 

Or even chemically blacken it before cutting to size.

 

John.

[G-BOAF]

This is driving me crazy.

Brit. runs lovely, EXCEPT for a tight spot in forward direction only. And only when loco is on the track (not running upside down, or lifted).

I assumed an axle was slightly off quarter and have stripped the chassis (for the third time), but having examined the wheels I can't see anything wrong. They all look the same, and I've lined the crankpins up on one side (blu-tak on a piece of track to keep them in place), run a straight edge on pins on both sides, eyeballed, and there is nothing out of true.

The drive gear on the rear axle also seems fine with no visible cracks.

 

What else could it be?

[33C]

I had this. It was the return crank on the end of the crank pin. It was slightly bent enough to rub on the con rod in one spot and was briefly locking up. Moved it out half a mil and no more locking! And the loco ran noticeably smoother. I mean literally half a mil!