[Hallicrafters] SX-28 splitting meter case & front panel & questions HELP?

[Ian]

Yes, I've searched the archives but sure don't find the thread about this
problem that I recall reading before I knew that I might acquire and SX-28.

I have a very early SX-28 that I hope I can bring back to life.  It's serial
number is 20 or so higher than the earliest S/N recorded in the SX-28 info
on the Western Computer Museum web site.

The meter case is split very badly and before I remove the front panel to
start working in that area and have it fall apart while I do that, I hope to
get the advantage of somebody else's experience of how to handle the
splitting case on the meter without doing further damage.

I'd appreciate a link to any specific information since I assume somewhere
it's posted and I need YOUR ADVICE and HANDS ON EXPERIENCE about the best
way to keep from damaging the meter and providing a way to preserve the
meter for continued use.

I also am interested in anybody who has a metal/silver colored front panel
on their SX-28.  It appears to me that this receiver has a silver panel and
that it has NOT been stripped of paint in the past to make it silver.
However I may be wrong.  The 2 indented bands in the dial area still have
red paint in them and the lettering in that area is NOT filled in.  

I have found a short item in a QST in the ARRL archives by a ham who no
longer appears in the QRZ database asking about others with a silver front
panel.  He said he knew of one other like that.

What do you know about the "silver" panel(s).  I will look carefully at the
back of the panel when I remove it and see if it appears to be the "proper"
blue/gray or something close, maybe indicative of it not having been
stripped.  

The cover to the tuning capacitor and tube box on top of the chassis was
loose in the cabinet and appears original.  It is a SOLID piece of metal
with no vent holes and was obviously on at one time and is not a recent
fabricated piece.  All that I've seen in the early manual shows a cover with
vent holes in it.  Any information about this???  Should I drill some holes
to provide venting?  Wish I still had access to a metal shop with the
selection of punches in the free standing punch!

I'd appreciate your advice!   Thanks!

Ian, K6SDE
San Jose, CA area