Dear Box,

Any chance of pics to show the installs you're not happy with?
Did you paint the "reflector" portion of the ditchlight casting?
Are the LEDs facing IN or facing OUT of the ditchlight lense area?

Just some quicky thoughts...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

I did not paint the reflector portion of the housing. I painted the rear portion of the led itself to insulate it from the metal casting. The led is facing outward, and I've glued the lens on using canopy glue... I'll try to get some pictures of that tonight to post it. But it looks like if a 3mm led was trying to light the full size prototype ditch light housing, it doesn't fill it at all. Or maybe I'm being too picky

It would be nice if someone made ditch lights with LED's installed already.

"I painted the rear portion of the led itself to insulate it from the metal casting. The led is facing outward, and I've glued the lens on using canopy glue... "

Sounds like you're on the right track (no pun intended.... seriously). Getting the LED lined up straight can be a bit tricky when dealing with that small size and making sure the wires are secure. When you get your photos posted, it will give us a better idea of what you're dealing with. The ones that mount on the deck above the anticlimber are more challenging to do right and disguise the wiring. The ones mounted in the front of the pilot below the anticlimber are easier to conceal the wiring.

"But it looks like if a 3mm led was trying to light the full size prototype ditch light housing, it doesn't fill it at all."

I don't think the DW castings are designed with 3mm LEDs in mind. You could use them, but you'd have to file down the lenses so they have a smaller diameter and are able to fit through the holes. You might also want to ream/drill out the casting holes to slightly enlarge them.

I am working on an SP Dash 9 project that includes deck-mounted, "thin" profile ditch lights. I ended up mostly scratchbuilding my own using SMD LEDs and styrene. Here's what I've done so far. (It's an older post, but I haven't made any progress since then  )

I haven't gotten around to taking any pictures, so I apologize for that... I was trying to lead the wires of the led down a hole drilled from the bottom up to the light housing, and drilling into the "reflector" just enough so the 0603 led would sit flush under the lens. I've since just drilled completely through for the front of the housing and gluing the led from behind. The light looks so much better, but now I have to (as well as everyone else I suppose) get creative on hiding the wires.... NOW I'll try to get some pictures of the difference. After everything was said and done, the old method's lights won't light anymore, so a lead must have broken off of something... But I'll get a pic to try to illustrate where my idea was going
I've been using 0603 SMD LED's for this project, the 3mm led in a prototype housing was just a reference to how it looked to me :p
I've also been considering just scratch building my own housings...