The Assembly of the Winson Britannia Kit

by Doug Hewson

Kit No. 3

The bogies on the BR Standard engines are, funnily enough, fairly standard apart from the fact that the Britannias, Duke of Gloucester, Clans and the Standard Class 5’s had roller bearing axleboxes in the bogies so the one supplied by Winsons is as near to being correct, within reason, as can be. We were going to fit our own hornblocks on the bogie but then when looking at photos they are virtually out of sight so we just put the bogie kit together as supplied.

There is very little really that I can say about the bogie other than it went together extremely well exactly as per the instructions. The only thing which I was not very keen on was the Tufnol leaf springs as my experience with Tufnol is that it is pretty useless as spring material. We make all our springs from all steel leaves and they work perfectly. When it comes to wheeling the loco I think we will definitely run into problems as I have seen one complete and the springs were not just squashed flat but curved in the reverse direction.

Kit No. 4

Tender Frames

Once again, the tender frame kit as supplied was just no problem whatsoever. It was just a question of following the instructions and the whole lot went together with everything fitting perfectly. The only criticism that I would make is once again, about the massively over-scale fixings. All of the bolts are just miles too big and really spoil the look of an otherwise perfect kit.

I think that the main tip that I would give for anyone building this tender is to make sure that it is assembled on a flat surface so that the whole thing is square when finished. An offcut of kitchen worktop makes a good assembly base.

The one thing which was really irritating with this kit is that the intermediate buffers do not arrive until kit 18 which means that this is another item which cannot be completed, painted and put to one side. It now has to like about the workshop in an incomplete state for months and is very likely to get damaged if we are not very careful.

Kit No. 5

Now, this is where Winsons did come in with a little criticism from me because the set of driving wheels with which we were supplied were quite poor in my opinion. There was nothing wrong with the wheel castings but the way that they had been machined resulted in the crank pin holes in three of the wheels being a good 1/16" from the centre of the boss. In fact, in the coloured brochure supplied for William Shakespeare there is a picture on page 12 showing the driving wheels and if one looks closely at the top row of wheels, the one at the left hand end and the centre one have holes similarly misaligned.

Having said that we returned the wheels asking for a set which were correctly machined and there was no problem with the replacements. It just begs the question, why could they have not been correct in the first place. The only other slight criticism I would have is that the centre hole in the wheel seems slightly large for axle, even for a Loctite fit where there should be some clearance. It means that one has to be very careful in fitting the wheels to make sure that they do not wobble on the axles. The other thing is, that when fitting the brass keys, they pull the wheel tight to one side of the hole and can result in a slightly eccentric wheel if one is not careful. In actual fact we have not got round to fitting the driving wheel sets in Coeur de Lyon yet as the other wheels arrived before we got round to it. However, apart from the above criticisms I can not foresee any problems in fitting them.

The one thing which I must say about wheels is the fact that when you come to paint them, the whole of the wheel should be black with none of the parts left polished otherwise your engine will look like a toy rather than a proper working engine. Even William Shakespeare, which was kept in pristine condition for the Golden Arrow, had wheels which were black all over. The same applies to all the other wheels of course.

Kit No. 6 - All other wheel sets

The other wheel sets were a welcome sight as it meant that we could at last complete the bogie and trailing truck so that they can have their final coats of paint and be put away.

This is the point at which we had a second Britannia enter the scene from Mike Carrie who is also building William Shakespeare but asked us if we could do the detailing work on his tender and then finish it off and paint it and line it for him. Since then he has also brought in his loco chassis for us to do the same with that. The reason why I am telling you this is that from now on the pictures illustrating these articles will be from either one or other of the engines and not just Coeur de Lyon. In fact, speaking to Mike on the phone the other night, he has decided that he wants his engine building as 70038 Robin Hood.

The other wheels and axleboxes etc. in the set are of course the tender axleboxes and this is when Winsons come in for a little bit more stick. For some reason, the bosses on the trailing truck axleboxes are the correct size but those on the tender axleboxes are not. I would suspect that what has happened is that the tender axleboxes have been copied from the original Norman Spink 5" gauge drawings which were also wrong and are therefore too small for the correct size Timken axlebox covers. Norman Spink originally produced Timken covers for his 3 1/2" gauge Britannia but when the 5" gauge drawings were produced, he used the same axlebox covers on the 5" gauge one rather than have the proper size ones made and I think this has been inadvertently transposed to the Winson 5" gauge Britannia kit and for the 9F tender. This is a great shame really because for the simple alteration to the programme they could be correct. I have spoken to Martin Ashworth about this and I think that something is going to be done to alter them.

However, we put the axleboxes in the lathe and turned the boss down to 1/4" spigot and then made new bosses to fit on the axleboxes which were the correct 1" diameter so that our own proper size Timken covers could be fitted properly. This makes a big difference to the look of the tender. The correct size Timken covers just fit nicely onto the Britannia trailing truck axleboxes.

However, apart from the above, if you are not particular about the correct detail there was certainly no problem in assembling everything as once again everything went together very well and will obviously function correctly.

When we embarked upon this project I had assumed that the loco would follow full size practice and be fitted with working steam brakes but I have just learned that this is not the case, there is only the small hand brake in the cab floor. I absolutely rely on the steam brake on my own loco and find it very efficient. If you are expecting to run the engine with a decent load then you will require efficient brakes. If you come to run at one of our Gilling Main Line Weekends you are likely to be pulling our new twelve car set of Mark 1 coaches and for those who have not yet heard of the event it is where we play trains in a big way. It is not a track but a "Railway" and all ground level with double track main line fully signalled with North Eastern slotted post signals. There is a loco shed for fifty engines and a goods yard for 150 wagons with another one being built to take a further 100 wagons, the first one now being full on running days. We are also building a carriage shed to house ninety six coaches or the equivalent thereof.

The whole railway is run to a proper working timetable and drivers are issued with a "working diagram" , which is the railway term for a roster sheet. The Express Passenger trains have a start to stop main line run of forty minutes and are timed to run at a scale 90mph with one stop for water. Quite a simple job for a Britannia! If you want to join in the fun then you require good brakes as it is not unknown to get a signal check and you need some good means of stopping a twelve car set of coaches (Please!). With an engine such as a Britannia you would also be diagrammed to work on Express Parcels, Perishables, fully fitted and semi fitted goods which are timed to stop and drop off vans and pick up others from the station sidings. These engines are more than just toys and should be used in anger. We run our engines like full size and on average the coaching set will run about 40 to 50 miles a day during the Main Line Weekend.

If you are interested in running or just spectating the Main Line Weekend is run at at a little village just north of York called Gilling East, and the railway is in Pottergate (Along side the Fairfax Arms) and the next date is the weekend of 18th,19th & 20th May and the next one over the whole of the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Anyway, in a roundabout way I was trying to say that I am drawing up the stay which needs to be fitted between the frames on which to mount the brake cylinder and will explain how to fit it in the next installment. This was really just a warning not to get too far with your painting if you are intending fitting working steam brakes. The stay fits in the frames immediately in front of the trailing coupled axle and will have a pipe to the cab to the drivers brake valve. If the steam brake is fitted you will not require the handbrake lever which is poking up through the cab floor.

Kit 11

Now I would like to skip on to Kit No. 11 which is the tender body and this was where we really did begin to earn our keep. The tender as supplied is only suited to the Western Region engines as it is fitted with Western lamp irons. This means that it is only correct for 15 of the engines, (70015 -70029) Neither of the ones produced by Winsons fall within this batch. All of the other Britannias were allocated to the London Midland, Eastern and Scottish regions (None to the Southern) and so were therefore all fitted with the standard straight lamp irons. The other thing is that with the tender supplied you can only build one of the first 45 engines. From 70045, Lord Rowallan onwards, they were all fitted with the high sided BR1D tender so if anyone is interested in finishing their engine as one of the later Britannias I have just completed the proper drawings for that tender. The underframe is the same, it is only the body which is different.

I must first of all say that we were impressed by the fit of the tender plates and the way that the sides were formed. The sides fitted the profile of the ends very well. However, the first thing we did was to discard all of the horrible hexagon head screws, one thing was that they were miles too big and the other was that they seem to be made of steel with the consistency of lead so snap off with ease.

The two side plates were riveted to the base plate with the correct round head copper rivets, although we had to use over large rivets to suit the holes which had already been punched in the plates. Even so the look of the tender was improved no end. The 1/16 rivets in the side plate were all riveted in properly, merely by resting the heads in a dolly and snipping some surplus of the back before tapping them flat. This makes a far superior job to Loktiting the rivets in and is very simple to do. It also and easy way of ensuring that they are water tight. If you want to do your tender this way then all you require is a 1/16" rivet snap and a light ball peined hammer. Whilst you are at it I would suggest you avail yourself of a 3/32" rivet snap (and the copper rivets) at the same time as it will do for the bottom plate rivets, the lifting lugs and the bunker joint plates. These are all available from someone like Blackgates Engineering.

The holes all round the back plate were countersunk and we used 6BA countersunk brass screws for this as the back plate should be flush. The handrails were also soldered into the back plate to make more of an engineering type job. Loctite is all very well in its place but not for gluing handrails in place. The two lifting eyes on the rear plate were also riveted on with round head copper rivets as per the full size.

The front baffle plate which forms the waterproof bulkhead for the tank fitted very well and again this was fixed in place using countersunk screws so that they could be filled flush and rubbed down for painting. However, we substituted brass ones for the steel ones supplied as they will eventually rust away inside the tank.

The next job was to tackle the coal bunker which went together reasonably well, though for some reason the raised back plate when fitted into the tender body was not square with the tender sides and there was rather a large tapered gap between the rear cover plate and the back of the bunker, more of which later. Rather than use the corner angles and hexagon bolts to fix the rear corners of the bunker, we filled the screw holes with countersunk copper rivets and filed them flush and then silver soldered the corners as the full size ones are welded and do not have bolts in the corners. Once again the bolts were unnecessarily large in any event and you could use countersunk brass screws to better effect. The joint between the two sections of the coal bunker was again riveted properly using 3/32" round head copper rivets and although these were slightly oversize they certainly looked far better than the bolts provided.

The front lift out section was fairly straightforward although the curved roof did not quite have enough curve in it and left a gap at either side above the bunker sides. This was easily cured by a bit of judicious curving around a paint tin of the right size. However, we did find that we needed to file a bit off the bottom corner of the back plate of the box so that it sat down in its correct position. If you see the picture on page 22 of the William Shakespeare brochure, there is quite a gap under the curved top plate of the front box section and with a little filing here and there to get the box to sit down properly, this gap was eliminated.

The next problem was found when we came to fit the bunker into the body as, if the holes provided were used, the rear of the coal bunker was 3/16" higher than the front so we had to re-drill some of the holes and slot the others to get the bunker to sit level. The final job on the coal bunker was to fit 1/8" half round beading around the top edge and over the curved back plate as per the full size tender. This was tacked in place all along with 3/64" brass rivets (from Blackgates) and then run along with soft solder using Baker’s fluid flux. A very gentle heat from a small gas torch does the trick and you need to have a screw driver or something similar handy to press any undulations out of the beading. If you use too much heat locally it tends to expand too quickly and kink up between the rivets. The rivet heads can all be filed off flush on completion.

As we were not fitting a hand pump in either of the two tenders, being surplus to requirements, the holes were all filled with brass screws and the holes for the rear steps were also filled with brass screws as the steps should be correctly fitted to the underframe and not hanging off the tank but again the reason for this is described later.

The two rear shoulder steps required slight modification as if the holes in the tender sides were used, they were protruding over the edge of the tank whereas they should be slightly inset. If you re-drill the two holes for each step 1/4" further up the tank side, you will then find that they sit in the correct position. However, this means filing off the curved section to the underside of the step which has obviously been tailored to fit the curve of the tender though this is not required as the step actually sits on the sloping part and not on the curve. You will also need to trim 1/8" off the thin end of the wedge. To finish these steps off we obtained some proper chequer plate from Blackgates Engineering and cut a piece to fit in each step recess and this was Araldited in place.

The water filter boxes which fix underneath the tender body just require the sharp corners down the sides rounding off with a fine file and then they can be fixed straight onto the body and we found that these fitted very well. However, the sharp corners along the bottom of the box can be left as the base should really be fitted with a hinged access door. On the full sized tenders the door lets down to clean the filter.

The next major modification we carried out was to discard the aluminium steps and make some new ones to the works drawings with the proper dimpled step treads. We made a special tool for dimpling the treads and the back plates were filed from 20 swg steel plate. The rear steps should have a small grab rail at the top and the front ones should have two small handrails above the top step. Behind the rear steps is a small bracket which fixes the steps to the tender frame plates and there is also a small angle on the side to fix the steps to the rear of the buffer beam in the correct manner. The front steps were made to fix into the same holes as the ones provided but in addition we provided the two diagonal stays which brace the bottom of the step to the tender frames. Having made the press tool for dimpling the step treads, these were easily punched out and then flanged over a little former to make the upstands at either side of the tread and these were silver soldered to the back plates.

The aluminium steps provided are a fair representation of the full size ones, though our detailing work really shows what can be done with a little time and patience to enhance these magnificent locos.

The bevel gearbox for the brake gear was extremely rough with the handle shaft only being supported at one side of the gear. It was a bit like the old Austin Maxi gearbox which was like trying to wiggle a stick in a bucket of cobbles. We improved the action of this gearing with a very simple alteration which, with a little bit of thought from Winsons, could have been made right in the first place. Using the handle hole as a guide, we drilled into the back of the gearbox and made a longer shaft for the handle which passes right through the bevel gear into the back of the mounting block and this now turns with a very smooth action having shimmed the gears with thin washers to achieve the correct mesh. We also made a little tinplate cover for the gearbox to keep the coal dust out.

At this stage we decided to carry out the waterproofing on the tender tank and instead of using the gunge supplied, we used Bakers Soldering Fluid and used soft solder to seal all the joints including along the top edge of the sloping section of the sides where they meet the coal bunker. The rear shoulder steps were also run round with soft solder to make them look as if they had been welded on. This operation can not be done with a soldering iron as there is two big and expanse of brass and the heat would just run away so we used a small gas torch and ran the solder along the joints following the flame along. It only requires very little heat from a gas torch and then any surplus solder can be cleaned off quite easily with a sharp wood chisel. To tidy the whole job up it was then given a light rub down all over with medium emery to scratch the surface to provide a better key for the paint finish.

The tender ladder was silver soldered rather than using the Loctite provided as once again the Loctite is not really the right medium for this job. We also made little brass bushes to fit in the top and bottom of the steps and discarded the horrible brackets and massive bolts provided and made new brackets of a more suitable size and fixed them with 10BA bolts. As you will see from the photos, the brackets which we made are about one third of the size of those provided and make a rather neater job. As the top plate lifts off we attached the ladder to the top plate with the new bracket but soldered some dowels into the bottom bracket so that it just lodges in the holes provided when the top plate is dropped in place. We then had to make the top plate fit properly against the back of the bunker which involved soldering a piece of brass flat on the underside and a filler piece on top so that it was tight up to the rear of the bunker plate.

The brass dome piece is the cover for the water pickup riser pipe and although it is correct for some of the Britannias, most of them are considerably higher so we turned an offcut of round aluminium bar to raise the dome to the correct height for the two locomotives which we are building, Coeur de Lyon and Robin Hood. The large dome has been fixed in place on the top plate by drilling and tapping from the underside and fixing with four screws but the water filler on one of the tenders has been left loose so that it can be lifted out for filling. On the other tender, we are parting the lid off the trunk and fitting a proper hinge so that the base of the filler can be silver soldered onto the top plate and the lid can be hinged up properly for filling with water. We did find that when the top plate was dropped in position, the angle across the rear of the back plate was just foul of the handrail knobs so a notch had to be cut in the angle so that the handrail knobs would drop into place properly. All of the screw heads were then filled and rubbed down and the whole of the tender body was sprayed with an etched primer prior to the finishing coats. I will go into the painting and lining next time.

One final item on the tender was the brake gear which, although rather over weight was adequate and not very visible so it was hoped that it could be fitted straight from the box.. However when I came to fit it I realised that the adjuster was useless as it was made with two right hand threads instead of a proper left and right hand. The bottle screw was therefore not an adjuster but merely a connector so we had to make a proper adjuster.

The spectacle plates were fitted as per instructions but once the tender is painted, a couple of pieces of 1/16" Perspex will be filed to a tight push fit and clicked into place. I have seen several completed Britannias with no glass in the windows and it gives them the appearance of a Barry wreck. It is very important to fit the glass to give the appearance of a working locomotive.

Photographs

(click on the photo to see an enlarged version)

1. The completed bogie for Coeur de Lion. No problems with assembly, just follow the instructions.

2. The completed trailing truck for the same loco and again no real problems.

3. The completed tender underframe, again for Coeur de Lion.

4. 3/32" copper rivets used along the bottom of the tender tank instead of the over large bolts supplied. The tender should be properly riveted in any event and it is a very easy task with a little care.

5. The modified set of axleboxes fitted with the correct diameter pads and our own correct size Timken covers.

6. A pair of the tender steps (front and rear) which we made with the properly dimpled steps. The front ones have the two grab handles and the rear ones have the grab rail across the top.

7. The modified rear shoulder step soldered round and fitted with a piece of chequer plating in the top recess. The two holes in the tender sides require re-drilling 1/4" further up the slope to fit the step in the correct position.

8. Fitting the beading to the bunker coal plate using a small toolmakers clamp to hold it in position for drilling. You need a high speed mini drill for the small diameter drill (No. 54) used.

9. The soldering completed along the bunker and the beading on the rear coal plate completed.

10. The ladder as supplied with the over scale brackets and bolts.

11. The ladder was modified top and bottom by filling the over large fixing holes and re-drilled No.50 for 10BA bolts. The new brackets were made for top and bottom from 5mm x 20swg strip.

12. The lamp irons (Not lamp brackets!) were modified to the standard type for all regions other than the Western.

13. The tender top plate did not fit at all well as seen here.

14. The completed top plate with the raised water pickup dome, newly fitted ladder, properly fitted to the coal plate, and the modified steps.

Detailed Additions to the Winson Britannia by Doug Hewson

Please note that as at 14 Oct 2002 Doug did not have any prices for the items listed below. Please contact him for most recent details.

£

3

Kit 1

Fit our front buffer beam brackets and steps

Lost wax cast brake hanger brackets

Make and fit lifting hole flanges

Kit 2

Make and fit triangular cab support brackets to rear of drag beam plate

Make proper steel leaf springs for trailing truck

Make and fit two small brackets with double feed oil boxes to rear of trailing truck

Kit 3 - Bogie

Make proper steel leaf springs for bogie and use our horn blocks if required. Complete scale bogie replacement if required.

Kit 4 - Tender Chassis

Assemble as is or offer complete replacement BR1D

Fit our tender steps

Modify rear buffer beam to take steam heat hose

Fit vacuum pipe dolly

Replace bolts with proper rivets where appropriate

Kit 5

Re-profile wheels and make sure castings are machined properly with crank pin holes in centres of bosses

Kit 6

Fit new pads to tender and trailing truck axleboxes and fit our correct size Timken axlebox covers

Kit 7 - Springs

Make all new steel leaf springs

Discard axle pump and cylinder drain cock shaft

Fit our lost wax cast tender leaf spring hangers

Kit 8

Make and fit our steam brake kit to loco

Make and fit new tender brake adjuster

Fit our buffer steps

Make and fit steam brake gear to tender if required

Fit sanding gear brackets, sand ejectors and pipework

Fit our brake hangers and blocks with locking tabs

Check thickness of buffer heads and reduce if necessary

Fit our scale drawhooks

Kit 9

Turn grooves in valve liners and fit ‘O’ rings and our rear steam chest covers and valve guides

Make stainless steel piston rods

Make and fit our cylinder relief valves (dummy)

Make bracket and fit single oil box to rear cylinder cover

Make and fit cylinder cleading inspection covers

Make new pistons which fit and fit cast iron rings

Kit 10

Most of this kit is wrong

First check the loco to see if it is fitted with fluted or rectangular section coupling rods. The Winson ones provided are straight and should be "fish bellied". They should be fluted rods on both Britannia and William Shakespeare.

In any event:

Remove lubricator boss from rear knuckle joint of front rod

Clean up connecting rods and machine fluting to correct shape - or provide CNC machined rods to correct shape

Fit little end cast iron bush or case harden

Make and fit lubricator drive shafts to expansion links

Case harden pin holes in all valve gear parts and expansion links - case harden complete link

Provide and fit new case hardened steel die blocks

Provide new lost wax cast crossheads in steel

Case harden new crossheads

Make and fit correct return cranks (CNC)

Fit our return crank bearing caps

Alternative:

Offer complete set of CNC machined rods and valve gear

Fabricate and fit 2 new motion brackets and guide bar brackets with lubricator platforms

Fit our 2 start LHT reversing screw and nut

Kit 11

Check fit of bunker in body - make sure bunker is level

Discard all large hexagonal head bolts and fit countersunk brass in sides

Braze rear corners of bunker, fill bolt holes and fit beading all round

Alter rear shoulder steps and re-drill holes further up slope (¼") and trim inner edge of steps to suit

Rivet body sides to floor with 3/32" copper rivets

River rear lifting lugs with 5/64" copper rivets

Rivet bunker joints with 1/16" rivets

Make all new lamp irons to suit loco allocation if required

Fit rivets to dummy joints in bunker sides and rear coal plate

Modify filler cap, fit hinges and convert to working filler

Make new ladder brackets and silver solder ladder rungs

Check relevant tender for water dome height and make raising piece if necessary

Check fit of top plate to rear of bunker and re-new if necessary

Silver solder all handrails in place

Check fit of tool box roof plate and fit properly

Make and fit lamp irons for tender front plate for spare loco lamps

Use 1/16" copper rivets in tank all properly riveted

Make pads and fit our water filter boxes

Fill all screw holes for hand pump if not required

Fit etched plates when painted and lined

Paint and line tender

Kit 12

Supply and fit new rolled and drilled steel smokebox

Make and fit new petticoat pipe and chimney with vacuum exhaust ring

Make and fit new smokebox door

Fit front number plate brackets

Fit handrails and door handle to door

Fit door latch and guide to LHS

Fit correct lamp irons

Fit two rivets to bottom of door ring

Kit 13

Make up as supplied

Kit 14

Test and fit boiler as supplied - modify underside to clear weighshaft

Kit 15

Fit beading around smoke deflectors

Re-form firebox cladding to correct shape

Make sure handrails are level

Fit our washout plugs and mud hole doors. Turn beading off washout plugs

Form seam down cladding and join firebox bands on top

Kit 16

Make and fit our manifold

Make and fit our duplex valve

Make and fit our injector steam and water valves

Make and fit our live steam injector

Make and fit exhaust steam injector and pipework

Fit our clacks - machined by Dave Noble

Fit Dave Noble water gauges

Fit Dave Noble steam brake valve

Make and fit our drivers pedestal with fittings - working or dummy and all pipework

Fit our carriage heating valve

Make and fit our vacuum brake ejector

Make and fit all new nuts and cores to pipework

Make and fit dummy lubricators and linkage

Fit our cab handwheels

Make and fit our sanding gear

Make and fit whistle valve

Make and fit damper gear (optional)

Fit Dave Noble safety valves

Kit 17

Make and fit complete new cab

Make and fit new correct shape fire hole doors

Make and fit cab window slides

Make and fit cab windows

Make and fit scale reversing gearbox

Fit steam chest pressure gauge

Fit Diane Carney speedo drive

Fit dummy carriage heating gauge

Fit wooden floor to cab

Fit proper driver and fireman’s seat

Fit fold down wooden arm rests

Fit glass wind deflectors between side windows

Fit rainwater guttering

Make and fit cylinder drain cocks

Make and fit cylinder drain operating valve

Fit correct handrailing to cab

Kit 18

Make up and fit correct vacuum and steam heat pipe connections

Fit dummy steam heat connections

Check shape of dome and amend if necessary

Fit proper engine/tender pipe connections

Fit all plates after painting and lining

Fit dummy exhaust steam injector

Make and fit three tone chime whistle (1/2" brass tube)

Make and fit dummy whistle

Make and fit proper regulator handle and linkage

Painting and lining of loco

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