Continuing on, I changed my mind on the LED and went with a bulb. The LED leads were soldered on in a way that was unfriendly to installation and I ruined one trying. the bulb went right in. No photos of solder work, everyone knows what that's like.
Drilling out the deadlight casting was a bit of a chore. I should probably have done it before painting, but to be honest I was considering not doing a headlight. Then I changed my mind. You have to take your time and use a sharp drill bit. Sometimes a burr on a Dremel woks better but this headlight casting was too deep. You can also generate enough friction heat to melt the solder joint if you aren't careful, so a little at a time works best.
Onec through the casting, the smokebox cover has to be drilled, then the wires are fed through
Next up was reinstalling the boiler weight. These are always easier to get out than put in!
Especially little ones. You have to tuck them in, and line up a little hole for the screw that goes through the boiler and onto the weight. Sounds like a three handed task, right? Ve haff Vays!
This is a small weight, and fits pretty far inside the boiler. For these, I use an awl. I tap it into the soft lead, and then use it to like up the hole.
The thread impressions tell you how ot goes. Getting it backwards will make further reassembly impossible. This weight is a bit too close to the screw that holds the chassis to the smokebox end of the boiler. I suspect another drawing error!
This shows the awl tapped into the weight. I had to fed this into the boiler from the cab end, as detail parts sprues projected into the boiler far enough to prevent inserting from the front. The screw hole is behind the smokebox section. Note the little nub at the end of the screw. This makes it really east to start the screws without cross threading. A nice little feature that used to be on PFM models.
I tested the bulb with a 1.5 volt battery, then installed a 1K Ohm resistor. Once this was done, I tucked the wires out of the way while putting the chassis in place. You don't want them rubbing on drive shafts or getting tangled in things or rubbing against anything where insulation could be removed causing a short or blown function. I was going to use a two-pronged connector for the bulb, but decided against it. if the bulb goes, I'll just replace it, wires and all. Plugs aren't necessary unless you need to remove things for maintenance or transporting the model in its box.
You'll note that the decoder was already installed just above the motor. I did this before painting. You'll want to do any DCC conversion before painting, and after you make sure the running quality is up to snuff.
Here she is all back together.
To Do:
Decaling and sealing
Light weathering
Headlight, tender light, and Marker lenses.
In that order.
You guys all know about that stuff. Next pic will be of the completed model.
. Just kidding! Remember, these are progress shots. We’re doing a step by step clinic here. We are a bit away from done. 
. She’ll get more Micro Sol decal set and then sealed with gloss. We aren’t there yet. This is a useful shot to look at decal types though. The “Southern Pacific” tender decals are Microscale. All other lettering is done with San Juan decals, that have a much thinner film. They are less forgiving of careless handling, but come with more details and numbers that the Microscale sheets don’t include. They’re also more expensive but worth it. Also note things like this are barely visible if at all in person. The camera magnifies every little sin. I haven’t gotten to the “correct all the little “oopsies” step yet. I’ll shown those when we get there!
Final finishing touches which are pretty much as he recommended plus a few additional (and what I do on all paint projects) are yet to come. I tend to ad lib a bit when it comes to the order of these finishing touches depending on each project, as no two are alike. Detail black shows more imperfections than straight loco black at least in the Scalecoat product line. The decal edges are more pronounced in the photos due to bright lighting and the angle of the light source. They are much less pronounced in person under layout lighting. I may go straight to flat coating, or a 50-50 clear flat mix. I’ve never needed more than one clear coat either. The edges won’t be a problem. They will for sure disappear under weathering!
S**t happens! The Matte leaves a small amount of sheen, but not too much. Weathering will be dead last after touchups are done, and everything works. I'll test her on the club layout tomorrow. 
