Can anyone tell Ed how to melt some antique plastic, and fill in some of the holes, if he decides he went too far?:

Just get some plastic epoxy and fill it in and sand it down. Maybe a Dremel to do some of the stressin' and sanding.

They are cheap enough, I would just start over.

If you want to experiment a little more, here's a technique I have used a lot:

Get a large nail file and some metallic paint. Spray or brush the paint on the file and scrape whatever bit you're working on. Don't file, just scrape here and there.

If you do this to another one, see if you can use a utility knife to slice and pry open the frame first and remove the clear plastic.

Just my opinion, but I don't like the clear piece being all scuffed. It's really meant to represent glass, which would not scuff and distress the way your clear plastic has. Distress, paint, mark up the frame, then put back in the clear plastic and glue the two sides back together.

This reminds me of when you were younger and you kept egging on a friend to distress or mess up something they weren't supposed to.
And you all were laughing like nuts.