Hull plating question

[Farmboy]

I have limited experience in hull plating. As everybody and their dog knows, the Revell 1/96 Constitution's hull plating comes pre-embossed, and adhesive copper strip works quite well in telegraphing the riveting and individual plates. This is where my experience ends. So when using copper strip on one of these particular models, is there any advantage to cutting the strip into individual copper panels and pressing them to the hull, or does one simply (and carefully) apply a single copper strip from stem to stern (or vice versa), positioning it as one applies it from one end to the other? I've experimented with the latter, but I'm curious to hear other takes on this.

 

[AllanKP69]

Farmboy
If this is for a 1:96 scale you might be better off forgetting adding plating and just paint. The plates for British ships were like below and you can see an actual plate from the USS Constitution below as well. The sketch shows actual dimensions of full plates and 1:96 scale dimensions. The nail holes will be so tiny as to be nearly invisible at 1:96. The plate overlapped so thickness, even of tape, may create a problem.
Allan

 

[Farmboy]

Thank you Allan for the advice and the supplied photos. Much appreciated.