nah its not difficult to strip them down. just be extra careful with the plastic thing on the back with all the circuits on it. oh and when you go to refit it. check the dash illumination bulbs are all working before you rebuild the dash. I had to take mine apart 3 times because the bulbs kept randomly blowning while I was working on it. as for the paint you could get a small tin of model paint from a hobby shop and a tiny brush to do the needles.