Hi,
I guess it should be noted that this is a fairly old kit dating back to the early 1950s (according to scalemates.com). As such the lower hull isn't necessarily all that accurate, and you may experience problems attaching the single piece hull to the main deck (I know I did when I was a kid).
Additionally, alot of the detail (like smaller calibre guns) are molded onto the deck, and parts like the catapults might seem fairly crude when compared to modern kits.
As such, as you can likely see from some of the responses here, and other previous posts on this forum, this kit probably doesn't compare that well to other more modern models of the ship.
That said though, it is a very readily available and usually not too expensive kit that can be a fun build both newer modelers that want to build something interesting, cheap, and not too taxing of their abilities, as well as more experienced modelers interested in seeing what they can do to "improve" the "kind of rough" starting point that the kit represents.
As such, if I were you, if I already had this kit in my possession, I would probably start with this kit, experimenting around with scratchbuilding, modifying, but I probably wouldn't try to spend too much money on anything like photo etch or other after market parts (if they exist).
Later on, once I had finished, if I were still lnterested in having a detailed build of the ship, I might then look at a more modern casting in either 1/700 or 1/350 scale.
Hope this helps
Pat