Hey congrats so far!
I have a quesion for you - you said:

Quote Originally Posted by zephans View Post

PPS: Turns out I'm able to rework the metal top rails purely by accident. The "Diamond Star" pool I ordered from http://www.sunenterprises.com/ specifically shows 11" resin top rail (and was part of the reason I bought it). However they shipped metal rails. I'm not happy with bait-and-switch, but it gives me options to solve this problem that I wouldn't have with resin.

I'm going with Plan A in next couple days (after I do my initial backwash). Post if you have any thoughts.
Don't you mean 11" resin top SEATS? not rails?
I would assume that the top rails would be metal & the 11" top seats would be the resin.
If they sent you metal top SEATS I would call, I am sure they would take care of you ASAP.

Way to go on the DIY! We did it too & also from SunEnterprises.
Looking back- we see our mistakes. If we knew THEN what we know NOW, it would have turned out better. But we are happily swimming anyways.

Good Luck!
~Hoffmans