I imported the i386 kmaps.tcz and it will indeed set a UK keyboard in both Picore and in the actual command line on PicoreX but not in the terminal with X running. I think bmarkus is saying that Xorg selects the keyboard layout whilst X is running and that is where the current problem lies? Still at least i now have a UK keyboard in Picore and we now know the i386 binaries work so anyone else with a keyboard layout issue can do the same thing.
On my keyboard none of the extended keys work, no home, delete, cursor or anything so editing files in vi is impossible, i have to ctrl-alt-f1 to edit stuff at the command prompt but i can live with that for now especially with a UK layout.
Thanks for the help, Protaganist.