What I do is a bit long process but this is how I do it with LASER cut parts.

0) Make a backup copy of the SKETCHUP File.

1) Lay down all the parts FLAT as they would be in a LASER Cutter.

2) Change camera to FRONT or LEFT view, which gives you a side view of all the parts.

3) SELECT ALL, Explode to ungroup everything - do this as many times as necessary.

4) Select carefully the upper plane only and the walls of all the parts, from side view that is easy, also try dragging left to right and right to left, both are different in sketchup.

5) Delete the Selection, leaves only a single plane of all the parts.

6) EXPORT as EPS/SVG (dont remember exactly), IMPORT in Illustrator.

7) Beware, sometimes, the lines in Illustrator are all double, meaning LASER will run twice on them, so need to delete those by checking/selecting/deleting.

Thanks for the tip man - I will give it a go soon!

 What file format do you need it in w/ Illustrator? SVG? DXF?

If you take each piece of the model and export them as a STL. Then import each one in OpenSCAD, you should be able to get 'projections' of each part. Checkout https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/3D_to_2D_Projection

Thanks for the feedback buddy!

Ive heard of openSCAD but never used it (I only have a little old netbook at home that would struggle to run anything that requires effort ha ha.
I currently have the stls, but the Illustrator file I have if an illustrator-specific extension.
Illustrator can handle both svg and dxf (every format except stl I think ha ha!). If I manage to get them to svg/dxf the guy might well import them into the illustrator template for me.

Thanks again for replying! :-)