I would paint the front panel white or light gray and apply those rub on letters. Radio Shack had rub ons to use as pcb resist: lines, ic patterns, symbols and such. They even had sheets with commonly used electronic words (volume, power, tune, adjust, etc) so you didn't have to place each letter individually. It was still a pretty tedious process. After all the rub on stuff was applied, I'd seal it with a few coats of Krylon Crystal Clear for protection. I think I still have some of those rub on sheets somewhere, probably dried up and useless by now.