There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
First, the road numbers that Lionel chose for the NYC units have the correct side grilles. 4036 and 4037 were the first units delivered, and had horizontal grilles. Yay!!!!!
That's a big relief!
Now we just need to work on the dynamic brake fan.
I'm not canceling my pre-order just yet, mostly because I'm not overly concerned about the pilot, because I have experience with installing P&D Hobby passenger pilots.