hey it very easy belive me my friend is also trying to so that and it works try modeling it using nurbs of rather curves. scan the profile and import it to your screen then make the profile using curves and then loft them you will get a good basic model then convert to subs and tweek some vertices here and there and apply the map its not as simple as it sounds takes time but hey works
I say use polygons. It's a general flat rectangular shape. Use reference images to figure out where all the details go. Then use poly cut to add more details. I find nurbs to be something of a headache when dealing with certain things.