Don,
Looking good! That's a fun kit.
There are dozens of interpretations of the North River Steamboat. Way back in 2015 I started some research on it using the Library and internet. I also looked thru several forums. I recall you were on several of the FSM posts.
There are correct plans of the engine but no so-called "plans" of the ship which can be authenticated. It is another one of those "nobody knows for sure".
The Lindberg and the ITC kits do have a nice representation of the engine. Since Lindberg's actually "works" it is the better kit to build. Of course it is the only kit out there these days.
With my research I always felt the Lindberg kit seemed closer to an 1807 version whereas the old ITC kit seems much closer to the 1909 replica that was made. If course, with no good plans in existence, we can't know for sure.
A tid-bit of History:
"...Professor Renwick, describing the "Clermont" of 1807 as she appeared on her first trip, says: "She was very unlike any of her successors, and very dissimilar from the shape in which she appeared a few months afterward. With a model resembling a Long Island skiff, she was decked for a short distance at stem and stern. The engine was open to view, and from the engine aft a house like that of a canal boat was raised to cover the Boiler and the apartment for the officers. There were no wheel-guards. The rudder was of the shape used in sailing-vessels, and moved by a tiller. The boiler was of the form then used in Watt's engines, and was set in masonry. The condenser was of the size used habitually in land engines, and stood, as was the practice in them, in a large cold-water cistern. The weight of the masonry and the great capacity of the cold-water cistern diminished, very materially, the buoyancy of the vessel. The rudder had so little power that she could hardly be managed. The skippers of the river craft, who at once saw that their business was doomed, took advantage of the unwieldiness of the vessel to run afoul of her as soon as they thought they had the law on their side. Thus, in several instances, the steamer reached one or the other termini of the route with but a single wheel."
And, of Course...
Thanks for sharing .
Nino