HMS Audacity. From gaming miniature to 1/700 waterline model.

[Rhino]

Most of us a familiar with Royal Navy Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown and his aerial exploits. Major model manufacturers seem to ignore Winkle's first escort carrier model, in any scale.

HMS Audacity - Royal Navy - Wargaming - Axis and Allies - Naval Miniature | eBay

Perfect for Wargaming, Axis and Allies: War at Sea, Victory at Sea, or dioramas of naval actions. Products in pictures are example pieces. As these are individually printed, there may be small variations .

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Enter eBay and Esty seller XP Forge of Hiram, Georgia. Tim Smith 3D prints HMS Audacity in 3 scales of gaming miniatures. I asked him if he could make a 1/700 scale version, of HMS Audacity and he agreed to attempt it. The price was reasonable.

HMS Audacity's LOA is 8 inches exactly in 1/700 scale. A few of the details are accurate-ish. That flightdeck texture has got TO GO! The mast, anchors and gun tubs likewise will be carved/chopped off. Cartoonish portholes will be eliminated. Job one, the gawdawful flight deck!

I spent a few happy hours with 220 grit wet-or-dry and hand soap on the bathroom vanity. Dial anti-bacterial hand soap makes it easier to rinse the leavings from the sandpaper media and gives even the crudest casting, Master or model a pleasant scent. Always a plus!

Once the flight deck is sanded down to the clean deck edges, the usual C/A fill/sand process begins. I will comment that this resin is HARD! 2 sheets of 220 wet-or-dry gave their all to get this far.

I love the way this grand Scots gent puts his words together. I listened to several of his interviews while laying waste to the stout 3D resin Audacity details. My Captain Brown impression is giving my Sweetie a few chuckles, as it were. I bought his DVD and his "Wings on my sleeve" book. He passed away in February of 2016. He is one of my heroes.

So it begins....................

 

[Rhino]

Drilling the stern gun mount for installing a new 4" gun tub reveals that HMS Audacity is hollow. Remembering the 3D printed Fying Fluck and Missile toad debacle, I drilled a couple of holes in the underside to see if any toxic fluid runs out. None did. Pshwoo!
There will be no complaining about the modifications to this vessel. Tim did what I asked him to, and I knew full well a lot of extra care would be required to get her Just So.

Winkle might say; "This is the state of HMS Audacity (ahem) as it were. She gotten her undesirable bits removed, been smoothed and filled, you see. One would expect one would install a proper Royal Navy wooden flight deck, and rightly so. In any case (ahem) with the bloody shinies filled and bridge deck added, Awe-Dasiteh is coming up quite smartly, indeed! If this Yank knows what he is about, one might add the 2 arrestor wires and then the third emergency wire (ahem) which we called the For Christ's Sake wire. "

Thanks for looking in!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Interesting build Chris. This is a huge build compared to your usual stuff. Wondered why it was such a beast to smooth out the deck.