Newbie to gauge design

[hsvfan]

Hi all

I would like to have a go at designing a gauge that would,  have a series of lights that would start from empty to full, to simulate a fixed wing aircraft taking on water or  crop-dusting aircraft taking on fertilizer and then using the smoke key (I) to drop the load ,  the lights on the panel would go from full back to empty, so when you landed and came to a full stop the gauge would then start to refill to simulate  the load been applied
I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a good tutorial on gauge design, as I have never done this before, or is this type of gauge to advanced for a newbie

Cheers

Rhys