Hmmmm.
I have to say. Building this model for Deshler, Nebraska’s Spring Creek Model Trains owner has been an interesting endeavor. There is info available, some good some bad. Not once was I able to find what I needed. Most photos seem to want to emphasis the length and not the detail of these awesome vessels.
I also found so many mix-ups of decades it’s impossible to say any two looked alike at any time or not. Mostly I think they were modified at every yard break as it happened. Some sport the more modern stacks, for example, alongside the old style scoop ventilators and stuff like that.
I have also found differences in lifeboat launching and recovery systems as well. Wheelhouses etc. So it is probably safe to say if you want to build one, that as long as it SEEMS to be fit to an era that’s fine. You can only fudge so much. For instance,The Company operating these ships and the importance they placed on optimal use thereof. Changes cost money. Soo, let’s wait.
Wait for what? Profit/Loss ledgers for the year .Then they may have made visible changes Wholesale or Piecemeal. Whichever did not take from the profits going to the operators pockets. For instance the hatches. I don’t think the design changes much for over seventy years product carried notwithstanding. If it worked don’t change it!
Just my three and a half cents!