Messing with this a bit at a time still.  Unfortunately, it will be on hold again until I get a laptop as I am going long haul truck driving.  But I still have a few days to figure things out.  This is the external cockpit model, not the panel view.For this I eyeballed it and created a spline, made it editable mesh, then booleaned (yes, I know that's not a word) out the holes.  Then I put an aluminum texture on it to just make it look good.  I hope I can get a lot more finished on this.



One of the only two pics of the original panel I could find.  Too bad I couldn't find a straight on pic... 

I'm not sure.  I was thinking of just putting a recessed plug behing the holes and texturing that with pictures of the gauges, the modeling the ignition switch and such.  I don't know how to make them move when looking from the outside of the cockpit, so unless I take the time to learn (more likely) or find someone to make that happen, it'll just have to be a dummy panel.   

Here's the idea...