Tracy --
Do you ever do the wire mesh and then cover with polyester fabric and then resin that? I've seen this done for speaker enclosures etc and it seems pretty efficient.
The console in my Nomad is a combo of MDF - a little steel and some glass and some bondo...
And all done! The face plate of the stereo comes off - and when that is removed - it allows the fiberglass cover to come off and gives me a hidden compartment for "stuff". Once this was finished -- I removed the stereo in the dash and replaced the '55 chevy trim with one that has no cutouts... This was shot still in the mock up stage.