[stevehertz]

Given your stated abilities I would suggest you do a cosmetic clean up on the set and keep it - as you say - for an art piece. You can fill worm holes with plastic wood of the correct colour. If the colour is then too light you can darken it with a touch from a darker brown felt tip pen. You can also use Topp's scratch cover polish to enhance the finish. There are quite a few brands of scratch cover polish apart from Topp's. It's better for you to keep it as it is for the foreseeable future until someone with the correct level of ability can work on it. Please realise that this set, in this condition will require a full, long winded and technically involved restoration to get it working. It's certainly not a 'first restoration' project. Put it on display and enjoy it.