So, yes, having gone to all the effort this requires a little more info!
So, I went through the instructions and marked where I wanted lighting. Decided on 1 in the fore deck, 1 in the mid deck, 2 in the half-deck 'room', two in the quarter deck room, replacing the plastic lanterns at the top of aft, 1 in the hull. Also, I've wired for a light in each of the three large crows nests and will see how it looks - not an authentic idea, but as it's a display model it might look odd having lighting only on the bottom 2/5, the model is very tall.
Once decided, I marked my holes on the pieces working backwards through the instructions. This took some care! I then measured the wire lengths needed plus 2 inches. All wires are loose, red for positive, except the mast wires which are the white ones - this is because it will be easier to make the wire look part of the mast if they won't conceal inside the mast (tbc).
I then tied each wire pair and labelled them, drilled the base of the hull and fed them through, as below.
View attachment 418017
They're obviously in order front to aft.
Then drilled the deck to feed these through, naturally in place where they can be concealed by subsequent pieces.
View attachment 418018
Those which are concealed (most of them) I will maximise the light with foil, but soften with diffused light from semi-transparent straws. For the aft lanterns and possibly the masts, I've created them from a mould from a single model railway streetlight.
Once lights are wired up, I can push the excess wire back through the deck into the hull. I'll be soldering or using connectors. Similarly, once all are wired, I will connect them all to the battery pack and feed the excess back through the hull.
The nameplate will disguise the wiring anyway, so I should just be left with a switch and hidden battery pack outside the hull.
I'll test each light as they're done with dry fitting to get the best effect.
Only thing I need to find is a glue which will hold tin foil! CA doesn't seem to hold foil, and obviously PVA won't bond to plastic...