Hiya Richard,
I have just been given a kit of the Milford Star by someone who had started but was unable to carry on as he had to go into a care home. He had painted the hull which was done with gloss paint so I have stripped all of that off, and the decks had been fitted which I also removed, as he had not trimmed the top of the hull, so yes you will have to do that, I have seen a couple of models of this kit where that has not been done and it does'nt look right, I also removed the scupper covers which he had fitted. I am going to be replacing all of the plywood parts with styrene as I prefer to work with that, and also make my own decks instead of using the printed ones, I may even replace the white metal stanchions with brass ones. I have followed the camber of the foc'sle deck onto my deck beams as the kit's deck is not cambered, find attached a pic of progress so far, I hope to finnish the capping rails this weekend.
Keith.