[malachite]

I have been card modelling for quite a while with limited success, much to the delight of my grandson who gets the rejects, but have never tackled a model with a detailed cockpit or indeed a clear canopy. So, I have obtained a 1:33 scale model of a DH Vampire by Marek and the instrument panel consists of a sandwich of backplate, transparency and front plate with holes cut-out for the instruments on the backplate. I do have a screw punch but the smallest size is 1.5mm. Some of the cut-outs are smaller. How do I cut or punch them out?
The next question is what material do I use for the transparency (greeting card wrapper or something more thicker)?
And finally how do I make the canopy without making a plug and vac-forming (tried vac-forming in my aeromodelling days with a lot of disasters)?