It is hard to think of a time when VFDs would have commanded such a premium over neon-filled Panaplex displays that a manufacturer would actually try to paint a Panaplex display to make it look more like a VFD, yet the NCR08501 is just such a boondoggle device. Every one of the NCR08501's eight digits has been painted with a white stencil, to trick the user into thinking they are looking at a VFD. Make no mistake though, the NCR08501 is a Panaplex device, it is filled with neon, it lacks filaments and control grids, and the digits light up with an orange gas discharge. The display has 84 pins and is quite large; much of the display's surface area is taken up by the illuminated arrows that ring the numeric portion of the display. Though the display panels are welded together with a fritted glass barrier that should be nearly indestructible, the evacuation nipple appears to soft-sealed with nothing more than a blob of epoxy. This example still has it's original fill gas, but soft-seal epoxy is notoriously failure prone; it is unknown how much extended use such a display could endure.
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