Basically, the heart of each FMC is the software and the panel itself is relatively easy to assembly. Here you have the list of needed parts.
- "dummy" FMC panel with 72 push buttons (from Poldragonet) / 110 EUR
- 5.6" LCD screen (VGA input, resolution 640x480) / 69 USD
- FSBUS electronics / approx 20 EUR
- 72 tact switches
- 3/5 leds
- 10 white leds (high-brightness) to back-lit the keyboard
A long time ago I purchased dummy FMC from Poldragonet and the plan was to use it on FO side. But now, I have changed my mind and will try to make it fully functional. All buttons will need to be unglued...
The LCD 5.6" screen was ordered via Alieexpress, click here to see the item page. I was positively surprised that there were no shipment nor custom/tax costs and it arrived in 14 days from Hongkong. I read that some people were using LCD screen from PSOne console; forget about it, there is no VGA input and display quality is low.
My FMC will operate on FSBUS electronics. However, single DIO card supports only 64 inputs and remaining keys will be connected to my second card driving MIP switches and EFIS. It's not optimal solution, but I purchased all elements to assembly second DIO card some time ago. It also requires minimum 3 outputs for EXEC (green), FAIL (red), MSG (amber) led annunciators, but my panel will also support OFST and DSPY.
Thanks for visiting my blog!