The new 3D prints look like the ticket George (@gblair).

I had some trouble with the full hull fitting on my ship as well. Not so much with length, but with width which resulted in some small steps. It took several applications of filler and sanding to get it right. The bottom hull piece is also slide molded and I had to take care of several not immediately obvious mold seams.

I know you are an experienced modeler, but I can offer a few insights I have figured out so far. Get all the work on the hull done before you even begin attempting anything on top (at least attaching things). I plan on a temporarily attaching my hull to a wooden slab to give me something to hold onto (and to keep the ship upright). I am also considering on painting the hull and weathering it before doing the upper stuff, although I am not sure on this last point yet.

I have been slowly moving forward while I work on a Spitfire at the same time. After the problems with the bottom plate on the hull, I was gratified to find that the deck fit perfectly. There are some additional problems with the hull that I want to fix before I move on with the conversion. The one-piece hull has a strengthening ledge on the inside of the hull near the bottom. There is a continuous sink mark in the same place on the exterior of the hull. At first, I thought I might ignore it, but I think it would be noticeable. I brushed on some surface primer in the hopes that would be sufficient, but it wasn't. I finally bit the bullet and smeared some Tamiya putty all the way around the ship. I plan to let it dry overnight, and then start sanding tomorrow.

I have been trying to figure out exactly how the Welin davits for the LCVP looked and worked. I also wanted to figure out exactly what sort of deck equipment (winches, etc) would be needed to operate the davits. I was searching online and found a link to a manual that was being sold on Ebay. It was reasonable in price and in condition except for some paint spatter on the cover. So, a few days later I had an official US Navy manual from 1944 for Welin davits on LSTs, which are similar to the ones on the APD. Lots of really cool info. Cheers everyone.

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great progress, George @gblair
You found yourself a very interesting manual with some great drawings.
Good luck on the sanding tomorrow.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb), and Alfred (@alfred). I am an old historian, so I really like stuff like this. I still have my flight manuals from all the planes that I flew and have been dragging them around all of these years. I found the davit manual for just a few bucks, but someone had another one listed for over $40, so I was lucky to find the one that I did.

Sorry things didn't fit so well on the hull, Carl (@clipper). My waterline is much smaller than yours, so not too much fill and sand. I am in a position to start planning the conversion tomorrow using direct measurement on the model hull.

Excellent job, my friend @gblair! Some serious job ahead of you, should be fun, though.

This is really cool George (@gblair). I too am finding the change to ship modeling a fun project. Enough so that I may do an aircraft carrier in the future. I'd have to buy one first, but it would be a cool addition to my display cabinet.

Depending upon the thickness of the plastic you are using when you use that template, you might be able to lay it out in your vinyl cutter software and cut it using the cutter.

And wow, a 3D printed RC ship. Way cool.