Smaller LED searchlights for Astra Militarum tanks

I loved the LED lights in my tanks, but I disliked the wiring coming out of the back of the searchlight bit. I looked for a better way, and found smaller LEDs.

Complete all the magnetization tasks before attempting the LED work. 

Replace the mounting of the searchlight bit with a 3mm plasticard tube. Prime the bits with Leadbelcher, so the interior will be metallic.

 Drill into the searchlight and turret. Glue on the bits.

Be smarter with placing the switches. No glue this time.

These 2mm LEDs from GreenStuffWorld come with wires soldered on to them. My initial idea was to superglue the LED wires to the tube to keep the LED in place. This was... very difficult, almost like if the wire coatings were superglue-phobic.

After letting the superglue cure for more than an hour, I soldered the rest of the circuit on.

Test light... and the wires had pulled the LED off. Glue be damned. Sigh.

Start again with the other tank turret. This time, I just superglued the LED into the middle of the searchlight bit.

I superglued the wires, then sprayed glue activator (also from GreenStuffWorld). Boy, it stinks. It does activate the superglue crazy fast, though. Nevertheless I reinforced with green stuff.

I went back to the Chimera and glued the LED and reinforced with green stuff.

Finally, assemble the tanks with the circuits inside.

Mask off the openings, and paint the tanks.

After painting is complete, cut up some miniature blister plastic sheets and glue on with a very thin layer of superglue.

Then cut to size using the hobby knife. Sadly, it fogged up due to the superglue. I applied a couple of  layers of gloss varnish, but no noticeable improvement.

With the lights on, the fogging isn't that bad.

However, this is way less noticeable on the tabletop than the older tanks. A different method, but not an improvement, I think.