The veneer project was a success! I have a sense of victory. Pete provided more of the dark wood and after a little trial-and-error on my part, I cut the inlays and they fit perfectly!
The trial-and-error part consisted of me playing with the stroke thickness of each line. I bumped up the stroke weight, used the expand function, and cut the ship to see if it fit. A stroke of 2 was way too thick. I settled on a mere 0.5 stroke. That was enough to compensate for the material lost when the laser cut the light wood.
Pete took it home, glued it to the backer, and put it in this vacuum bag. The vacuum simulates a 1,500 lb. press.
After removing it from the vacuum bag Pete sanded it, which removed the faint scorch marks on the light wood. He promised to send me a picture of the case when his grandfather’s memorial flag is in place. So glad I could help with this.