mmitch, what a wonderful set of pics, and of Danny's beloved (?) A31 too! You've certainly made his day, and mine for that matter.
Danny, now that you've had time to peruse them, are they all as you remember, or are there "variations of"? I'm thinking in particular of Comms, and of the wing tip/fin long wire aerial. I notice that the rear cockpit has a monstrously large radio fitted on the coaming. Is that the original MF one fed from the central aerial mast? Would the wing aerial therefore be SW? In which case are we looking for a US version of the famous RAF 1154/55 Tx/Rx combination? It would have to be quite bulky I would have thought, which brings us back to the rear coaming. Over to you!
What does come across is the spaciousness, front and rear, just as you say! I'm also taken by the neatness of the pilot's instrument and switch panels. Would have done justice to a Ford V8 Pilot, I would have thought. As to higgledy piggledy, given the layout of some British Military Cockpits of the time, isn't that a bit of Pots and Kettles? I guess that you are thinking of ergonomics rather than neatness, in which case as a "user" you do of course trump all other opinions!
Wasn't the rearward opening lower dive brake a bit of a hostage to fortune? If the VV had been at Midway and made that fateful dive into heavy accurate A/A fire, a hit on that live hydraulic line would have prevented retracting them would it not? Not a very clever bit of design, or have I once again missed the point?