I was able to obtain another MAX7219 chip for testing purpose and my problems were solved.

Working better

Working better

Working better

All of the segment light up correctly.  The one that was sent was definitely faulty.  I contacted the author of the meter and he offed to send me a replacement (when he is back form a conference).

Over all I like this kit it was relatively easy to put together and it has usefulness beyond honing my skills with soldering.  If I had to point out any negatives I would say that the components could have been tightened up to make the overall dimensions smaller.  This is a minor issue since I don’t really have any size constraints.