Fallout Radiation King Internet Based Radio

Fenruul

Fenruul

New Member
Hi, I'm terribly new to posting on RPF so I hope me posting here works fine. This is gonna be a two post intro.

Introduction:

I'm a Fallout Fanatic, playing the games since I found a copy of Fallout 2 in a Goodwill back in 2005 as a kid. I got started in prop making across the 405th and Mandalorian Mercs before settling on just building what I pleased. I've done a few costumes and props from Fallout (Courier duster, Vault Canteen, Nuka Cola Quantum with pulsing, light activated LED to name a few) and I'm on the edge of my seat for Fallout 4.

After building my Quantum, I got interested in how far I could take modern electronics and put them into use within Fallout prop making. I started playing around with a few ideas and stumbled across an obvious:

What if I made this?



It's not a common made prop, swaying from the electronics territory that is mostly inhabited by Pip Boys being installed with computer boards and screens. The few that I have seen be made were paper craft with radio boards in them.I wanted to make one that could hold up the test of time, but I could not for the life of me think of what I wanted to do with it.

Idea Machine:

I ran through an idea board and did a bunch of electronics research (even with my wiring of the pulsing LED, I'm still an electronics novice), and went through a few iterations. First was a standard radio and speaker; boring. Then came a wireless bluetooth speaker kit; the only one in diy existence is no longer being produced and I'm not gonna cheat with a regular bluetooth speaker and risk wasting money if I ruin it.
I then stumbled across the Technology Will Save Us All website, where they have a relatively popular DIY Speaker kit that I had previously read about in Popular Mechanics: https://www.techwillsaveus.com/shop/diy-speaker-kit/
Pretty neat, in that it has a singular speaker connected to a 9 volt powered board that has a on/off switch, volume knob, and LED power lights all built into the board, harder to find on standard kits. I contacted the company about getting a second speaker: they don't sell second speakers, but they mentioned they made a Spotify boombox from two kits and an Arduino board.

Ding. Lightbulb moment.

I'm not a big fan of Arduino, I know how simple it is to use but I like stuff with a little more firepower and has all my resources instantly available without having to shell out more for basic accessories.
So my alternative? Raspbery Pi.
Did a bunch of research, and came across PiMusic, a wireless program installed by SD card and controlled by Wi-Fi dongle that can "stream Spotify, Soundcloud, and Airplay" as said by it's website. I could use the audio jack built in the Pi, but the audio quality would be terrible. As a suffering aduiophile, this wouldn't do, so I need to buy a soundcard for the Pi.
Did run into an issue, however, in that I would need a screen to input commands and turn the system on and off to save power and my SD card. Yes, I can use a monitor or my flatscreen television to do this, but where is the fun in that?

Enter the Pip Boy 2000:




(Well, 2500, but this is the closest I could get to actually showing it. Thank you, Nexus.)

A gentleman on Etsy sells a 3d printed Pip Boy 2000 case for Raspberry Pi: https://www.etsy.com/listing/235100704/3d-printed-piboy-2000-raspberry-pi-2?ref=favs_view_9
While it won't fit with both a 2.8 Touch Screen and a Soundcard, I can at least place a touchscreen inside it and connect it through the back with the HDMI, sitting on top of the radio as an interface, giving a dual appearance and almost looking like a Fallout display. I can control most of the music through my computer, but having an interface to a) Know what is playing if I'm away from the computer and phone and b) being able to turn off my Pi so it doesn't eventually explode and I lose all progress.

All of the electronics components are going to be placed inside a case made from 1/2" hardwood and quarter round with an acrylic face plate. In addition to this, I also want to place inside it a light switch circuit behind the false dial to light up and look realistic.

My basic build preliminary, components and measurements will be in my second post, as I'm running this one a little too long.
 
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Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

That pipboy 2500 is what i'm betting the original ones in Fallout 1 and 2 looked like. I was thinking of making something like this too but mostly finding some old 1950s or 40s radio and just reworking it. I'm not good enough with electronics to do anything with arduino or such.
 
Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

Part Two: Build Overview and Components

NOTE: In between the first post and a day of research, I have found that the original touchscreen is a mounted board which would take the place of the audio card. Considering this is meant to be audiophile grade, I will not be sacrificing a high grade sound card for a USB one that is *slightly* downgraded. The Pip Boy Function of this project shall be put on hold until a suitable replacement can be made.
Features:


  • Wireless audio player capable of Spotify, Soundcloud, Airplay, etc.
  • Audiophile Grade sound card with gold RCA jacks for high musical quality.
  • Singular Speaker System with adjustable volume knob, 3.5mm jack, on/off switch and two red indicator LED.
  • Light system behind dial and on panel board for realistic feature; switches inside for dependent switching.
  • False dial for appearance.

Materials:

Software

  • Pi Music Box-http://www.pimusicbox.com/

Electronics

Electronics Hardware

Hardware
  • 2x4' Hardwood Plywood sheet
  • 36 Inches 1/2" Quarter Round
  • 3mm Acrylic Sheet 1x2"
  • Liquid Nails
  • Miniature Furniture Feet
  • Miniwax Ebony Varnish
  • Miniwax Clear Gloss Coat

Will post prelim schematics and dimensions later.
 
Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

Sorry for late post, celebrated Halloween with the family. This is the post where things get rolling.

Part 3: Basic Schematics and Build Info

Okay folks, this is where the ball gets rolling, I promise.

The Build

The Case

The basic schematics for the box will be 12"x8"x8", making a rectangle with some depth to it.
Interior Space is about 11"x7"x7", since the box is going to be made with 1/2" Hardwood Plywood, and not made in traditional box format.
Box is going to be made on spacing for corners, corners being filled by the 1/2" round. I need about 32" for this project exactly, but as I tend to forget "measure twice, cut once" I'm getting a yard for extra mistake room.



As seen in the sketchbook diagram, the box will be standing on miniature rubber feet one can find in a project section of Hobby Lobby or at a Home Depot. The hard part is finding some plastic coping to put on top for the frame. This may end up being nixed for a standard radio plate, or I can put quarter round at the top and paint it chrome to give some effect, or place a layer of painted acrylic in perfect frame form over the top, so keep in mind that this will not be exactly screen accurate to the game.

The Faceplate



As can be seen, this is the basic prototype design for the face plate. Why the round dial instead of double tombstone, you may ask? Well, I did a lot of looking and research, but not only was it impossible to find a graphic of this face plate from the game (the papercraft was replaced by a Malaysian proxy website that probably was the reason my computer got malware for a day until I fixed it), but the double tombstone dial was incredibly uncommon among real life period radios. So, unless I can come up with a graphic with my poor photo-shopping skills or some good Samaritan happens to have a rip from the game, it's gonna likely be round based off a real dial graphic I'll buy from a radio store online.
Aside from that, there will be the issue of sound emission itself. The work around is that the plate will be made from acrylic and painted. I wanted to look for a rectangular reproduction plate from an online store, but a close design was hard to come by, and MERCY are reproduction radio parts expensive. So, the acrylic will have lines cut in it just like the game and have a mesh put over the back, with the speaker mounted on the faceplate with screws.
The dial itself will be raised acrylic above a section of unpainted acrylic, and will be lit from behind by the incandescent light bulb, on a raised platform. Not sure if I want to put in a needle yet, but it will not work in any iteration of this project.

The Electronics Panel

Panel for the potentiometer, switches, USB and more will be be based around a wooden frame under the faceplate, and will have a cover once I determine how the electronics fit, with appropriate holes for switches, knobs and lights. The one partition that will permanently be open is the Raspberry Pi USB, Ethernet and Soundcard section, which will not have any covering since it needs space for the cables.

Mounting

Velcro will be used for power boxes on the lights. Mounting screws and project enclosure will be used for the speaker kit. Mounting screws and a Pi case that can hold an extra Board will be used for the Raspberry Pi.

How it Works

First off, here is the diagram of the interior layout. Please note that this is not to scale nor are the boxes in proper size, this is a rough drawing of what I perceive to be the final product:



On HOW it actually receives signal, I'll start with what the Pi MusicBox website says:

Accessing the music

  • Point your browser to the Pi. Depending on your network and computers, it will be available at this address: http://musicbox.local
  • Most OS X/iOS and Windows devices probably will find it immediately. If it doesn't work, you could try to install Apple Bonjour/iTunes in Windows to make it work. Linux should also work if Avahi or Samba/Winbind is installed.
  • Using Android, you have to point your browser to the MusicBox using the IP-address of your Pi, e.g. http://192.168.1.5/ (fill in your own!). There is no way to change that for now, unless Android would support it, The IP-address is printed on the screen when MusicBox is started. Connect a monitor/tv to find out. Or use a network/bonjour scanning utility.
​
This works over Mopidy, which is an "extensive Linux server written in Python" as stated by it's website. The writing of the code on this project is actually based around receiving signal connected by wifi, so the wifi dongle is essential. The end product is being able to open the address for MusicBox on my laptop and play music from my laptop, use airplay on my iPhone, or the IP from my Android tablet (I get around with my electronic devices).

How it connects to the speaker? An RCA to 3.5mm cable. I understand that crunches some sound quality, but I'm willing to sacrifice some to make this project work. The speaker circuit board has the 3.5 Aux jack on the front next to the switches and LEDs, so it's a matter of plugging in a cable all the way from the side of the Pi to the side of the speaker. This is the one downfall of using this wirelessly, and will look pretty ugly at times (unless you dig the cable jury rigged feel a lot of Fallout fans do). Regardless, the auxiliary is open at all times for one to plug in a device if they pleased with a regular cable; if one used an analog like a record player (God knows why, the audio quality will still be crunched) it would still work because it's amplified since it is a powered speaker and works of its own volition with no dependency on the Pi.



And the lights are a totally optional feature, unique in that they do not need to be put on a circuit for round the clock usage. Really, I bought the kits with switches on the power boxes because it would a. complicate the exterior switch board and b. allows for it to be turned on directly from the power supply so it can be used for aesthetics without wasting the main power of both the speaker and the Pi.

Making it Pretty

The Case

The case will be varnished with Miniwax Ebony and sealed with gloss. I'm on the fence about weathering it because it's already anachronistic in design.

The Faceplate

Painted cream color except for dial. Either I will stencil on the "Radiation King" Logo or go the extra mile to get the logo laser cut in acrylic; there are a few shops in my area capable of doing such a small logo for a small price.

STICKERS!!!

This is gonna be a personal mark on my project. I love the image of old radios and boom boxes emblazoned with stickers from travels and places on them, so I figured I would do them in Fallout Style. This means all the stickers will be done with Fallout pictures, such as the GNR Logo, New Vegas Casinos, advertisements, etc. Digging through design ideas right now, which I will print, hand cut and potentially weather in matte sticker paper from Staples and put on the sides.

Where I Am Now

I'm not far in this project. I'm finishing the research phase, really, posting it here for documentation and critique. I've bought the incandescent bulb project and the blinking LED, and they work wonderfully. The rest of the parts I'm going to gather over a time period, working on them as I go. I figure instead of directly building the case and finding out the electronics plan would not work, I'm going straight for the configuration and programming phase first and investing in a Pi after Fallout 4 releases and I have more money (I shelled out 140 for a last minute rerelease through the Bethesda Store of the Pip Boy, even though most money is going to college). I expect this project to keep me busy through Christmas, so I'll be using my free time NOT indulging myself in Post Apocalyptic Boston working on this project.

PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK! IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, POINTERS, QUESTIONS OR DIRECTIONS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP I CAN GET!
 
Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

Looks good i really would like the radio i remodeled a old radio a few years ago and it was a fun project. I ended up just gutting it and adding padding then placing my BOSE radio in it.
 
Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

OBI WAN KEN0B1 said:
Looks good i really would like the radio i remodeled a old radio a few years ago and it was a fun project. I ended up just gutting it and adding padding then placing my BOSE radio in it.
Click to expand...

I was gonna do something of that caliber with an iFrogz Tadpole speaker, a wonderful miniature speaker that has loud sound but gets pretty tinny at times, perfect for the vintage radio aspect. My problem is that I'm a sound junkie, I LOVE my music quality, as evidenced by a reasonable record collection. I got sick of streaming through my PS4 and TV in that I had such limited capabilities, and I don't have a stereo system for my tv, so I can't turn off the screen, I have to risk burning an image in my flat screen. While this is certainly anachronistic and not a "true" replica prop, it's built in the style and general aesthetic of the original, and I'm hoping it turns out really good.
 
Re: Fallout Radiation King and Pip Boy 2000 Internet Based Radio

I know what you mean i am Very Hard of hearing so sound needs to be the best. To get around that i leave the lid open on my Radio to get the best sound and i padded the inside with Foam, cardboard and fabric to make shore there was no vibration. I bet you could 3D print the Radiation King about the size of one of those small blu tooth speakers that would be awesome and not take up to much room.I have a space problem at my house so i like to make props small. I have a mini mini nuke i am working on now that i 3d printed.

Fenruul said:
I was gonna do something of that caliber with an iFrogz Tadpole speaker, a wonderful miniature speaker that has loud sound but gets pretty tinny at times, perfect for the vintage radio aspect. My problem is that I'm a sound junkie, I LOVE my music quality, as evidenced by a reasonable record collection. I got sick of streaming through my PS4 and TV in that I had such limited capabilities, and I don't have a stereo system for my tv, so I can't turn off the screen, I have to risk burning an image in my flat screen. While this is certainly anachronistic and not a "true" replica prop, it's built in the style and general aesthetic of the original, and I'm hoping it turns out really good.
Click to expand...
 
zapwizard said:
If you can find a better screenshot of the radio dial background, I could make a full vector version for you. Or you can sketch out what you want it to look like and say.
For example here are the gauges I made for the Pip-Boy.
Click to expand...

That would be a massive help, thank you. I can PM the details and a screenshot later.

I took my first step as far as electronics goes and bought my Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. It's gonna sit on my shelf for a week or so before I can get a charger and load the Pi Music Box onto it, but that's no problem. I knew my Amazon Prime trial would be useful at some point.
 
Raspberry Pi arrived today. Power supply arriving tomorrow and the wifi dongle is arriving on Fallout 4's release day, so I won't be too occupied with configuring the Pi that day, haha. I've flashed the Pi MusicBox to my Micro SDHC and plugged in my wifi settings, so that's good to go. What I've read is that this really is plug and play, as the base kernel of Mopidy is non monitor needing. I'm half tempted to keep this on all the time, but I figure I'd need to rig it with stick on heatsinks since it's in a not very well ventilated case.

I'm not entirely worried about the case just yet, I'm more concerned with getting my speaker kit and making sure it works before I start the main process of mounting it to the case, and I lack the TWSU DIY Speaker and the sound card, which will take about a month to acquire. Just stay tuned.
 
Ball is rolling now folks, here's the test video:

https://youtu.be/yKZbSsXtsMo

I've run into quite a few things- pleasant surprises and issues- that are not detailed on the website and require trial and error or intense deep study into Mopidy groups to figure out. If you are interested in building one of these like me, this will be important:


  • The base installation requires more than a wifi name and password, you will need to enable what services you will end up using. To do so, you will have to go into the settings.ini and find your program of choice, and change the option from "false" to "true". I had to use this for my Spotify account, which you have to plug in your premium account information. Since this is a private IP that is only accessible on your designated wifi in your settings, this is a safe procedure.
  • Audio quality, as stated earlier, is good enough, comparable to a standard MP3 file. I'm streaming directly from the internet with Charter and a Nighthawk X6 Router, so my internet speed is good and streams the higher quality audio Spotify has to offer directly over the computer. What this means is that the crunch you hear is indeed the Pi. Leading me to my next point...
  • Audio from the Pi's 3.5mm jack is fine on headphones. What you saw in the video was a Crosley record player, which even though it has a built in aux and speakers, is an abysmal wax-eating record player with awful sound quality, so the crunch and muted tones in that video is why. I have not tried this on another speaker, but I assume one with good drivers will sound better and less muted.
  • This thing requires a good portion of your ram, and take a chunk out of your wifi because you're running two IP's and controlling one with the other. Despite being a retail tech, I don't have a good computer. I have a bare bones laptop that at most can really write papers and surf the internet (which is good enough for daily life in my case since I'm a college student). This will run on mine for a while, but eventually glitch out and drop the wifi to your computer, meaning all I can do is turn off m Pi, close my browser, and wait for the wifi to show back up. You'll need something with a good amount of ram, probably the least you probably could go for optimal performance would be a Pentium with 4 gigs to get results without hiccups on your computer's end (this is just a shot in the dark, there is virtually no specification info for this program).
  • Some programs do not activate when you modify them. I'm delving into the reasons behind this, but I do not get Airplay option on my iPhone, nor do I get some of the services I activated, such as Soundcloud. I'm delving into why this is not working, as there are multiple answers.

Where I am now is that I have a working Spotify, Youtube, International Radio and Youtube Streaming device. This is NOT a replica prop yet, and it will be a while before it becomes one. I'm waiting on my DIY Speaker kit to arrive from the UK, and once that arrives and I build it I can begin to work on constructing the case. I have made a few modifications to my general placement schematic to make it easier to use and more ventilated for the electronics, so I'll post that soon.
 
Still working on this? Now that Fallout 4 is out, I took some higher res images of the in-game radio, I could update my artwork if you need.
 

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