Life took a left hand turn (as it does) and have been delayed. Ordered some tinted black perspex to sort the control panel cover issue. Which is cut to shape, so hopefully the dxf file I sent them saves me some time.

Looking at trans black finishes and from what I've seen, using a grain filler before staining seems to be the way to go.

Anyone with experience doing this approach?

I'm ideally looking to get something like this: