What would you say the chance of success is for someone willing to try it but has never done a lot of electronics fabrication before?

The hard part is the soldering. The components are really tiny. I dunno about making the sub-board, I haven't had to make one yet.

Take a look at Brian's instruction pages (the "buttons" link at the top of this page). He's got detailed photos of each step of the procedure. Also read my review of when I did one of the earliest kits.