Hi Paul, I always use Nano Chips for model lighting they are tiny light chips that are very bright and have very little impact on the battery, they come with a resister already wired you simply wire them to a battery via a switch if you wish, they come in various colours or warm or bright white, you can virtually wire as many as you like though out the boat in the same principle as a house ring main, check them out at
www.smallscalelights.co.uk run by Jennifer Smith, very good service and reasonably cheap, she dose LEDS of various sizes but I find the Nano Chips best because you can hide them in the boat and all you see is the light when switched on, she has got 12 volt ones, hope this helps.
Joe
Have spoken to Jennifer and she advised that due to the length of the hull and the length of the power leads, that I should use them in groups and connect to a multi block and then run the main heavier battery power lead to each block. That way there is no damage to the lights. Also they are limited to the size of area they cover.
They are very bright for their size but it does depend a little on the model as if they're enclosed in a darkish space they'll look brighter than in an open area.As a rough guide she suggested 1 per 3 inch square, so if I had an area 3x3 inches with one in the centre it would be about right, but if it's an enclosed space inside the carrier you might only need 1 per 4 x 4inch square, depending on how bright it needs to be. They can get a bit too bright!She advised that I can always add more it you need to if you're using a connector block.
The cost was about £45.00 for around 20 + units. plus postage.
So putting my pennies away in my boat box for this item.