Thanks for joining me Cricket (@bikequeen), Spiros (@fiveten), Andrew (@pb_legend), Tom (@tcinla), John (@johnb), and Alfred (@alfred).
Let me respond to some of this.
Andrew, thanks for posting the links. I had started looking at some of these already. I found some good reference sites which should help a lot with detailing (or at least understand what some of the small bits in the kit are supposed to represent). And I have read Neptune's Inferno some years ago (as well as all of Hornfischer's other books). I did pull out Neptune's Inferno again to re-read.
Tom, your review was one of the first things I found when I first started looking into this build. I will re-visit this review, now that I have the kit and more knowledge about where I want to go. I recently finished read the "The Cactus Air Force" earlier this year. Great write up. Guadalcanal is one of those classic battles with lots of rich history. Far more interesting to me personally than some of the European battles, probably because I like the underdog nature of the scrappy Marines defending Henderson Field.
Alfred, I think the figures are probably 4mm in height. I found a YouTube video which I saved which covers a relatively easy way to deal with these small guys with an acceptable level of realism. Of course, that will be quite a ways off. As for eyesight, well that is a challenge for me as I am sure it is for many modelers.
On a general note. I am watching a series of build videos on YouTube to get a better understanding of the process I will need to go through as I start this project.I got to one video where the builder was discussing cable drums and how tedious it was to have to make multiples of these. I had a bit of a crisis of confidence when I first saw that, but I have since resolved that I am going to handle this build in a Zen fashion where each step is going to be relished, and the end result is not going to be worried about as I know it will eventually happen.