OK, I have never even attempted to build a panel before and I don't know where to start or what I need to do so.  Any help would really be appreciated.

You can get Paint Shop Pro 7 Trial here: http://jasc.com/ PSP is (in my opinion) the best program for painting and creating panels. It does take some getting used to, so id play around with it for bout 2 days or so to get the hang of it. You can find CFGedit here at simviation. Although its supposed to be for Fs98,FS2000, and cfs1 &2 only not fs02, you can make a 'fake' directory named Flight simulator 2000, make a gauges folder and put the gauges in and the program will register it as Fs2000 [thats in case you dont have fs2000 and only 02; my case]. Ill try and see if i can make a tutorial on the panel designing itself, havent seen much of those.

I dont care about 'out-tutorialing' anybody, i just wanna let people know how to do stuff, it aint a contest.

Ok no problem. Anyways i did get to make a tutorial (took me bout an hour to think bout what i was gonna say and type it) The tutorial i made explains the method i use in panel designing, im not sure whether there are any more methods...Well i just explained what to do, how to do it, but i wrote only the basic stuff and a bit bout how to be creative and stuff like that. It isnt an extremely proffesional tute, but it will give people a good start. Ill be uploading it to Simviation soon.