liudr:
Lefty,Thanks for the quick answer. I think I might just pursue that route. My drilling skill with a dremel is pretty basic without a Dremel drill press stand. So if I drill a hole on the top cover of a project box, then do the panel mounting with a small PCB, I could then wire wrap the small PCB to my main logic board. Easy enough. If I did 3 buttons layout (up/down/enter) instead, I bet I'll mess up the last hole LOL
Heck if working with plastic project boxes I just plunge my hot soldering iron into it to make a small hole and then use a small hand reamer tool to make the hole the required size. If it's a metal case I of course first drill a small hole and then use the reamer tool. My projects lean towards the functional side rather then the nice cosmetic side. 
One of my favourite hand tools:
Lefty