This is a great guide. I have been following it step by step. There was only a couple of places I changed things.
On the intermediate plate I was able to soda blast and came out without any warping or pitting. Did a nice job.
Also on the back of the intermediate plate I used Krylon Glowz to see if that will help with a brighter cluster. Here is the Glowz
http://www.krylon.com/products/glowz/
Still waiting on a few parts to finish, but will post some pics once I'm done.