I've finished the first install. I'm very happy with the results. Eventually I'll get around to learning how to redecorate the shell. The nice thing is that with inspiration from tehachapifan's sound decoder install on an SD9, it's much easier to remove the shell. I don't have to use connectors.
Here is a show from the front of how I installed the front LED. I used a small piece of 0.06" square styrene cut to size to fit in the front of the locomotive. Atop that I glued the LED with Walthers Goo. The LED is an 0603 surface mount that I bought prewired with magnet wire.
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A shot of the rear lighting tower. It's just two stacked pieces of 0.06" square styrene with the LED mounted to the backside. This lines up nearly perfect with the light on the cab.
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At the suggestion of someone on here, I purchased a set of tiny boards from Ngineering to mount 0805 1/2 what 3K ohm resistors. That made the install of the electrical VERY easy. You can sort of see them in the shot above.
Finally finished shots from the front and rear with the lights on.
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I plan to do this same install with a second NW-2 I purchased. I'll make an attempt at a full step by step writeup and I'll place that in the DCC forum.
To peteski point, I think this discussion started as a feasibility discussion. While that was going on, it was particularly useful to be here. I hijacked it (most profound apologies) to show some pictures of the feasibililty. But at that point it became an install post. Therefor, the how-to will be in the proper forum.
Thanks for the ideas through the whole thing. Bouncing ideas and getting new ones helps quite a bit. I really appreciate it.