Outstanding job on the finish, the distressing makes it! 
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Thanks, this made me want to build a big modular control panel with backlighting and glowing dials… something I have no use or space for 
I’ll detail the process of this one and provide links to the parts when I get it wired up and mounted, In case anyone else wants to make an exhaust helper for a short run duct. It might get moved to beyond the manual since I’m modifying the PG before cutting.
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That’s rad. Great vision and execution!
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Perfect! Thanks!
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Excellent job! If I might ask - what font is that?
Oops, I see you included it above - so I retract my question. I’ll plead that I was distracted by the picture. 
John
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This is my kind of thing. Fantastic.
What kind of paint?
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MilSpec33558 I downloaded it for free from the web after doing resarch on what was really used in old control panels, but the font had major errors and didn’t work. It did show up in the finder as an image so I took a big screen shot and outlined it in Illustrator… If I get a chance I will re-make the font in Fontographer from the original docs and post it.
Took the royalty free downloaded font into Fontographer and fixed the errors, this should be cross platform, enjoy.
I have re-loaded the font with a new fix. The letter “D” had an error that the glow forge did not like and caused a bad engrave in that letter, if you downloaded the font be careful of the “D” when outlineing and importing into GF. Use this new version instead.
MS33558-Regular.otf.zip (7.4 KB)
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Rattle cans of:
Rust-Oleum painters touch matte black sanded with 600 grit
and Rust-Oleum painters touch satin Ivory silk, which is a horendous beige color but makes a a great aged white.
The green is testors for model tanks and planes… cant remember the exact color.
Oh and
Rub and Buff Metallic Silver Leaf for edge highlights
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This makes me want to create fake control panels just for the fun of it. Very nicely done.
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Thank you kindly for the details!
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Holy Crap, that looks amazing! Nice work!
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Wow, this really is such a great build, Brotron! The details are spot on! I used to work on old Sikorsky S64 Skycranes, and they used the same style panels. And as markevans36301 pointed out, the only difference was the use of slotted camlocks.
I don’t know if it would save a lot of time, but we would use these paint sticks to fill in the lettering… https://www.amazon.com/Markal-83420-Paintstik-Solid-Marker/dp/B004N84BKA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1517864703&sr=8-4&keywords=markal+paint+stick&dpID=41kZNajEHaL&preST=SX342_QL70&dpSrc=srch
If you were to paint the panel flat black, then fill in the markings with the paint stick, you wipe away the excess and you are good to go!
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I have used that trick many times for (non-commercial) typeface use! Love it. Easier than installing it if it’s just a word or phrase.
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Superb build Brotron! Thanks for the finishing details, and especially for cleaning up the TTF font file.
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Those paint sticks are kind of cool. I can see how that would work since they don’t dry. Did the lines get all grimy with dirt after a while?
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This is awesome and definitely something I will attempt when my GF arrives. I have some of the old, original, equipment from planes that I will use eventually.
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Outstanding. Great job
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Wow, this is amazing. Very well done!
I built a home flight simulator with many laser cut panels using my Glowforge and this seems like a better technique than I was using. Can you explain more of how you did the white lettering? it seems that you covered the black painted panel. But I’m confused by how you painted the letters so perfectly. Did you cut a pass of letters only as a guide to paint through?
Thanks, and you are correct, I do a separate engrave pass. I just photo documented a rundown here Some other folks had asked earlier, so I was already woking on a new build. Hope it’s clear.
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They dry after about 12 hours or so. And yeah, they turn that same dingy cream color after a while. You nailed it!