Wow, having this thread is motivating me to make some sort of progress almost every day.
Real life got in the way yesterday, but I got back to the project this evening.
I was ill prepared in some respects and improvised to get things done, but just kept moving and in the end a lot got done.
I decided to go with a padded dash, in part to add thickness since I was only using 1/8" hardboard (for it's flexibility).
I didn't have a real plan when I started; just cut out the pieces, sprayed them with 3M super 77 and stacked them.
I wrapped the foam around just far enough to get a nice round shape on the front lip of the dash.
While looking for some type of glue in my toolbox, I came across some double sided tape.
Didn't have much faith in it, but tried a piece and it bonded well, even with the vinyl stretched tight, it didn't give.
The vinyl was pretty stretchy, so to attach it to the main dash, I just stretched the excess down the sides and tacked it.
It might not have been the most professional way to do it, but it was easy and came out looking the way I expected it to.
I wanted to get the plexi ordered today and went back through the forums to see what I should buy.
Some wish they'd gone tinted, others wished they hadn't. I wasn't sure what to get. I looked at the Lowes and
Home Depot sites to see what they had in stock locally. Home Depot had something called Optix, but only in clear.
The website for Optix had great information on how to cut, drill, etc.
http://www.plaskolite.com/products/flat_sheet/optix/(click fabrication) So I went with that, figuring that I could use automotive tint on it if I wasn't happy with clear.
The Optix guide said that you could score it two or three times and then break it off like glass.
I tried this using an acrylic scoring tool that I bought at home depot. It did not work as advertised. It removed very little material on each pass.
I scored it ten times and still didn't get a clean break. Luckily, it didn't break toward the inside.
I rescored the spots that didn't break right, clamped the edge between two boards and took a hammer to it.
Probably not the right tool, but it worked. I still had some points sticking out that I had to take the sander to.
The stuff sanded really well. It drilled easily too (used a ceramic/glass bit & widened the holes with a grinding stone on a dremel).
If I had to do over again, I'd use a saw/router/dremel instead of scoring it. I'd definitely buy the Optix brand again.
Anyways, placed it in front of the tv, drew some rough lines, measured for more accurate lines, taped off, painted.....
I sanded the RCA logo off the front of the TV so it wouldn't show (couldn't find my electrical tape, but I could find my sandpaper).
I missed the VCR+Plus logo at the top.
It doesn't bother me enough to take it back apart, but if it's ever apart, I'll get rid of those too.
It's getting harder to get detailed pics with all the black items blending together.
Still need to cut out my button labels and swap out the shift knob.
The wiring is on it's way, but I probably won't get to it until weekend.