Way back in 2002/03 we re-powered Buster. The old instruments were not going to work with the new engines, so we ordered instrument panels for each engine from Volvo Penta. They didn't make a twin engine panel, so it came as 2 single engine panels. When faced with mounting them up, the instructions to the mechanic were something like "Just cobble something together and I will replace it right away." He must have done a fair job as "right away" turned into 14 years later. Over the years I made various false starts into replacing the instrument panel, but I was never happy with the options. This Spring, I was chatting with a friend about maybe getting him to make the panel for me and he suggested that I should check out one of the local libraries as they have put in some cool tools, including 3D printers and a couple of laser cutters. I went through the orientation and booked my first session a few weeks ago, and I must say the results were spectacular. I laid out the instrument panel in a free software program called Inkscape and cut a plexiglass instrument panel on the larger laser cutter. The pictures below are the bare panel and the almost fully populated one in the mount on Buster's dashboard. The laser cutter has 2 major operations it performs; the first is to etch any line that is greater than 0.001" in width. This makes the writing and can be used to draw lines or pictures on the object. The 2nd operation is to cut any line that is 0.001" or narrower. This was used to cut out the holes for the gauges, switches and fuse holders. I also used it to cut the little mounting holes even though they would have been pretty easy to drill.
I should note that the results actually look better in the photograph than in real life. The writing is fairly low contrast, so can be hard to read in certain lighting conditions. I understand that if I apply some contrasting paint and then wipe it off, it will fill the grooves of the writing and make them stand out. I will experiment on a scrap and see how it works, but even without that I am very happy with the results.
If you are interested in making one of their own, I recommend Inkscape to lay it out. I will upload the files somewhere on the web site and update this posting with the info.