It is what it is, an old kit, and one with a number of issues. However, it is generally accurate enough that it could be made into a decent build, but it will take some work, although I don't think an excessive amount of work, to do so. On the other hand, the Trumpeteer kit shares at least a few of the same accuracy issues. The uposhot is that either kit would take work to really make shine, although probably less with the Trumpeteer kit than the Revell kit.
You'll really need to do some research, but since budget is a concern, the best reference I know, Paul Stillwell's "Battleship Arizona: An Illustrated History" is out unless you can check out a copy from the library. Poke around the web and look for any photos you can find. NavSource has a number of photos, although not much that is outstanding. Since Arizona is a sister to Pennsylvannia, photos of Penn are of some value. One problem, is that the ships went though a non-trivial refit in '39-'40 while most photos are prior to the refit.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/38.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/39c.htm
About the kit, the most quickly obvious things would be some of the heavy handed detail, such as the molded railings. Although the best solution would be to replace them with Gold Medal Model's photoetch set, perhaps you budget precludes this, so you'd be better off to just remove them. The raised rims around the portholes in the hull is way too prominent. Probably the best solution would be to drill out the portholed with a tiny drill bit, and scrape off the rims. The aerials that project from the tops of the tripod masts are totally wrong as well.
One of my personal pet peeves (which applies to most Arizona kits as well as most US Dreadnought era battleships) is the 5" secondary battery inside the deckhouse. Contrary to what is molded in the kit, these guns are not eclosed in any sort of casement turret, but rather are open mounts. The curved shield that is typically presented as part of a casement turret, is a static weather shield or canvas curtain depending upon whether severity that is removed or rolled up prior to action. This photo of Arizona's sister, Pennsylvania, shows how they should look. You can also see the latice arms that trail back from the foretop, which is the same as what was mounted on Arizona in 1941.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013838.jpg
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