Think you've said it yourself...
"Not wishing to start with a compromise should I"
3) throw the hull away and build it perfect, litho plates and perfect rivet lines etc according to the builders plan and shell drawings (only joking)
...just make it right then with re-positioning and filler etc. Thats's what scale modelling is about and it sounds like it's a good enough base to work from, retification sounds minimal. Anything else is a compromise to prototype and not acceptable!
Or, however, as tizdaz says -something realistic, nobody will really know, probably makes little difference unless you want ultra scale. Better things to worry about I think.