Thank you very much DanS and all the other posters that have addressed issues with the 2812 weather vane. Last time apart I really lucked out and saw the TINY brass vane shaft bushing laying on my bench, ALSO on the bench I found the little membrane with graphite button inside that we push when we activate the vane from the outside.
These two pieces must be stay in place by reassembling the unit holding the bottom in working position and laying the top down until seated...I believe I may have tipped it upside down before it was together thereby the two pieces falling out of place.
SO recovering from the corroded battery (which did turn out to be bad) and assembly user error the Weather Station is back in working condition..YEAH!
BTW I used the original 1.5 alkaline and put in a new 1.2 NiMH...is working good.