Don't bother with getting those until the rest of your ship is nearly done. The technology evolves pretty quick.
I second that thought, radios are getting cheaper by the day so hold off. Research is a good pastime, it yields great rewards. I have radios that are 13 years old and they still work well. HobbyKing has great deals on 9 chanel radios, you don't have to spend a ton. Spektrum 6i radios are inexpensive and have a great reputation, and good customer service. You have many other things to do before the radio but now is a good time to do some learnin.
I have built both a Big Gun and a Fast Gun style WWII Scharnhorst. It was my introductory boat to both formats, so I think I am qualified to answer any questions you may have about the class. For Big Gun, yes the Scharnhorst is a great starting boat. It is fast and has strong armor. Its a bit light on armament, with only 7/32" cannons, but they only lose a bit of underwater penetrating power. The most important thing is it is big and roomy enough to forgive many rookie building errors, and is fast and tough enough to forgive many rookie battling errors. For Fast Gun... not so much. Scharnhorst is large and tough, but lacks the relative speed and maneuverability her Big Gun counterpart enjoys. In Fast Gun, weapon location is much more important since most cannons don't rotate: Scharnhorst's options are poor at best. In my first battle, she was nothing but fodder for cruisers and ended the battle with more ammunition onboard than she started with. I am currently re-arranging the armament to better suit my play-style, but honestly I would probably get better overall results as a rookie with Scharnhorst Senior, or an I-boat.
Big target, lots of freeboard to shoot and the stern guns are pretty high up. I wouldn't recommend it. I ran a scharnhorst as my rookie ship. I originally built it with dual sterns and side mounts in a and b, but switched to triple sterns and a rotate in b for my first nats. It really fights like a big cruiser, you don't get much opportunity to hit somebody with sidemounts unless they are hitting you worse. If I were to refit it today, I'd probably just do triple sterns and two pumps. What battling style you want will determine the best ship. Run and gun or hug and slug. Scharnhorst is good for the former, not so much the latter.
KGV is kind of a dog in Fast Gun. Big, doesn't turn well, huge billboard sides for the axis (that's ME!) to chew on. Konig, OTOH, is a great combat boat if you like the "hug & slug" dive-into-the-furball style of combat. Note: In fast gun, two different battling "styles" have been identified: "Hug & Slug", where sidemount armed ships sit close alongside an enemy and pound away at their sides (note the other guy is probably doing the same back at you!) and "Run & Gun" where you sit out on the outside of the fight, sniping at range, or race in to finish off someone that's in trouble, then duck back outside. Hug & Slug is most battleships, all dreadnoughts (WW1 bb's), most battlecruisers. Run & Gun is most cruisers & smaller & some battleships.
Somebody said that the stern turret on the Littorios is too high up. If I build it, I could shoot at other ships from far away, based on the trajectory of the bb's , keeping me away from hugging and slugging, and keeping my ship from sinking. Does anyone agree with this?
it is much harder to aim when you are standing 30 feet away from your ship and everyone is running around than you probably think it is. also wake gives a fair amount of bob as none of the boats I have seen are big enough to cancel even the small wake generated by themselves.
Here is a list of good starter ships that I've compiled based on what people have been recommending on this site. USS Brooklyn USS Brooklyn | Strike Models DKM Prinz Eugen PrinzEugen FN Suffren suffren USS Des Moines desmoines USS Northampton USS Northampton | Strike Models HMS Invincible HMS Invincible | Strike Models SMS Defflinger SMS Derfflinger | Strike Models SMS Von Der Tan vdt DKM Lutzow DKM Lutzow | Strike Models Really though, you already have a Scharnhorst hull. Why would you want to spend more money on another hull?
