Well, here is the finished product. I have to say, I have had nothing but really good results from the older non-ribbanded JSC kits. Sure, they have some inaccuracies, but nothing that can't be adjusted. The only 2 major issues with the North Carolina was the forward superstructure where it meets with the turret base. I had to take a 1/16" or so out of the curve for the base to fit. The other issue was that the hull sides are about 1/16" too short at the stern, but you really don't look at that too much, hehehe.....
I broke down and bought a leather punch for the circular bits for the first time. The one I got at Michael's was perfect in that it was metric, which matched the kits. The 20mm bases were done in a matter of minutes. You have to pop them out, though, once you have the punched, which can be a bit difficult. The results were excellent though. I bought some US hole punches, but these were slightly off and useless.
For rigging, for the first time, I notched the termination point where it meets an edge with an exacto and knotted the string. Pull through the notch and the knot holds. This worked out really well and will be used in the future. I'm still learning.
Thanks for all of the supporting comments. I was able to finish the model in 2 weeks exactly. I dunno if I could do that again! .....And yes, I lost a liferaft!
-Ski
