New to ship building

I've got one maybe 33% done. It's not a bad kit, but there are definite caveats and things that can be improved if you want to.

* Fit of the upper hull to lower is usually pretty bad. The lower, red plastic was often popped out too early and "clenched" like fingers squeezing, so it's a bit narrower than the upper hull. It's unfortunately strong enough that it will crack the joint if you manage to man handle it together, so most builders use wood dowels to spread it out and hold it.

* Alignment tabs for the deck pieces cause more problems then they fix. I'd recommend razor sawing them off and then laying them out inverted on some wood so that the upper surface can be lined up flat to minimize any filling and sanding. This can be somewhat problematic in that you also want to line up the planks, but I was able to pull it off by lining up the planks, taping one side of the deck to hold the alignment, and then pressing wood down to the deck to line it up in the other direction, similar to what I did here.

Thanks for the tips Tracy, thats exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

TomZ2

Thanks. Allthough its more like welcome back.

I will say , TRACY usually isn,t wrong . In this case the model was . Mine was a dream to assemble and believe me that,s a phrase NOT given by me lightly . I am at the point that when I get past the IPMS show in a week I am going to sit down and finish her . I called the museum , by the way , AND , they told me the kit is sold in their gift shop as it is an accurate representation of her ,  AS SHE IS NOW !! The reason I threw that in there is someone a long time back (three years ) said the kit was innaccurate as all get out . SO , when in doubt go to the source , which is what I did . Build her slowly though .She is not forgiving of you overlooking or fitting something out of sequence ! The instructions are at best okay .OH , by the way , although there are MANY P.E. sets out there (I am partial to G.M.M. ) and I found (forgive me LOREN ) that the EDUARD set for the NORTH CAROLINA is just the cats meow . What I did though is use LOREN,S  GOLD MEDAL set for the floater net baskets and ALL stairs and ladders .I used the EDUARD set for everything else .I did P.E. different pieces as I installed them .I found for this model and the ALABAMA it,s best to do it this way . That,s about it , any questions ?     tankerbuilder .

Thanks for th p.e. advise. I hope mine goes together as well as yours. I'm glad that its a good repesentation as she is now. The reason I want to build her is because I toured the ship a few years ago.