north carolina

Over-engineered in parts, inaccurate in others, but entirely buildable and it looks like a north Carolina when done.

Cut off the locating tabs for the main deck pieces and sand the edges down and you will get a much better fit... the tabs cause a nice big gap. 

Also pay attention to the back of bulkheads and undersides of deck pieces; knocking pin depressions have  raised edges that will interfere with fit if you don't sand them flat.

I agree. You can get a reasonably accurate model of the ship OOB dealing with the problems of the deck seams and bulkhead joints. However, if you are striving for the greatest possible accuracy the kit has several flaws. When I built mine,I had to make several changes to the aft superstructure, lenghtened the conning tower height, added PE details to the 40mm  and 20mm guns, scartchbuilt both masts, and finished up with PE radars, railings and catapults. The kit has the ship as she was after her April 1945 refit. If you are planning to build her in an earlier configuration, you'll need to do these modifications. Addmittedly I'm abit of a detail freak, so don't let my obsession deter you from having fun with this kit. I do suggest that you get technical reference book on the ship offered by the U.S.S. North Carolina Museum in Wilmington N.C. as it has many unique views. As an example, there is a pic of the 20mm mounts at the base of turret 2 that includes the only view of the crew escape platform on the back of the turret  I've ever seen.               Regards,    Bill