Today I took a break from coding and played with tools.  I got all 4 primary control panels built.  There's a pic up, but you really can't tell how extraordinarily good they look from that picture.

I cut the panels out of clear acrylic, used a drill and dremel to cut all of the holes, and painted what would be the back side with semi-gloss white 'Fusion' paint.  I can't say enough how gorgeous this finish looks from, the front side - it's like a glossy white piano when you peel the protective plastic off the front!

I glued all of the square buttons in place.  I ordered a cheap pack of 50 'keyboard style' buttons from Ebay, and had assumed they'd be keyboard sized as well as style... but they weren't.  They really weren't keyboard style either.  They came with no bezel... but were too thick to comfortably surface mount them on the panels.  So I cut holes, glued the button body into the holes, and then cut keys off an old PS/2 keyboard and glued them on top.  Since the keyboard buttons were substantially bigger than the 'keyboard style' buttons, it covered the hole and hid the glue mess.  I really should have just paid the extra money to use proper panel mount buttons throughout...  but I saved $50.00 by being cheap, and I'll just promise myself that I'll put that money to good use somewhere else on the project.  They have a good feel when it's all said and done... but I can see myself ripping them out and replacing them some day.  The buttons ARE the human facing part of this project...  They need to be great!