I'm in a space where the left hemisphere of my brain, the right hemisphere of my brain & my wallet are in a constant state of turmoil & conflict.
The latest is:
I have a Trumpeter 1/350 1918-era HMS
Dreadnought headed my way in the mail (should be here Thursday). The plan is to build her as a What If "Australia's first major warship" (HMAS
Australia) but, already, before she's even in my hands, some deep, dark place in my brain has spoken up with "Well, if she's going to be a Whif, why not go all the way & convert her to a post-WW1 aircraft carrier?"
I'm figuring the young Commonwealth decides to upgrade its navy immediately & buys a
Dreadnought-class off the plans in 1905 (commissioned 1909), then decides to upgrade the Australia Squadron with an
Indefatigable-class in 1909 (commissioned 1913).
I'm thinking the ships would be HMAS
Australia & HMAS
Imperial in that order, with a modified
Hood-class HMAS
Canberra joining their ranks post-WW1, being commissioned in 1922 (&, maybe, a 2nd
Hood-class ship after that, to replace HMAS
Imperial).
The next bit is the worrying bit:
The theory is that after serving her country well before & during WW1 the
Dreadnought-class HMAS
Australia is due to be de-commissioned & scrapped. The RAN is replacing her with another battle-cruiser but wants to try out an aircraft carrier (having seen benefits to them being operated by the RN during WW1). However, they don't have the money to build one outright, although they
can scrape together the funds to refurbish & convert
Australia. The plan to, later, convert
Imperial never occurs due to the Great Depression.
The bit my wallet's protesting about is that that same dark place is suggesting that I buy a 1906-era
Dreadnought to build the first incarnation of the Whif HMAS
Australia!
Aircraft are, obviously, going to be the biggest issue in bringing this plan together.
Any suggestions? Apart from going to see a psychiatrist, I mean!