Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt (Pic Heavy)

[TopSnipe]

As with most things that I have decided to try lately, this came about as the result of being side-tracked into an entirely different topic while attempting to perform some effective “Bing-fu” (manipulation of the interwebs for research/data-mining purposes) for information concerning one or more different subject(s).

During that particular bit of research, I happened to come across Thorssoli's Brain Drippings Blog which led in turn to Volpin's Blog entry about his latest Vacuum Former Build and that led me into the world of prop building. At about this same time, I had just finished watching the final 2nd season episodes of the prop builder/make-up artist show: FACE-OFF.

Several subsequent trips into the interwebs eventually led me here, to the RPF forum. Not being a huge gamer (and not a fan of 1st-person shooter type games due to a decided lack of hand / eye coordination,) I was nevertheless intrigued by the processes required to build accurate real-world replicas of in-game weapons, tools, and costumes. Following the trials and tribulations of a follow named NormanF as he attempted to build a copy of a Mini Nuke from the game Fallout, I thought I might be able to make the same prop but by taking a different tack than he had. The following entries will be an attempt at detailing my thoughts and steps taken during My First Attempt at Prop-Making! Thanks in advance for your patience and indulgence while I labor though.


I (hope to) bring you The FALLOUT MINI NUKE

After witnessing NormanF’s pain & suffering while attempting to shape several foam blanks, I decided that there was enough scrap MDF left over in the garage to stack up a large enough blank. Before I could glue up my MDF scraps, I needed to develop a set of plans to work from.

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I spent a day rough-drafting these. I realize that the dimensions may be a bit off but I was just playing around with a copy of Autocad 2013 I’d just gotten for school, so they may get tweaked in the near future. Depends on how they work out.

Once I had a set of plans to work from, I started by cutting and gluing several (10 to be exact) layers of ¾ and ½ inch MDF together to form a blank for the body of the Bomb.

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Once the glue dried, I knocked the corners off so that I could mount it in my lathe for shaping.​

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And then went to town, trying to get the general shape I was after.​

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I ended up with a shape the was a bit more lean and tapered that originally intended, but I think it'll work out for the best in the longrun.​

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The groove in the above picture is the start of the opening that will eventually receive the Detonator section.

Again taking NormanF’s advice, I ordered a gallon can of Evercoat’s Rage© Premium body filler to use as a skim coat and correct a couple of minor errors that were the result of rapidly dulling tools! MDF is murder on the sharpness of your turning tools!! Waiting on the UPS guy to show up. Should have my body filler by the time I get home from work today!​

More to follow shortly, I hope!

 

[TopSnipe]

Re: Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt

Shouldn't you always start with a PLAN?​

Here are the very "ROUGH DRAFT" plans I'll be using throughout the build of the Fallout Mini Nuke prop. They will definitely need major tweaking as I move forward. The current plan is to possible have the Fuse and the Power Button 3-D printed, we'll see haow the funding works out. I may even try my hand at casting, if I can somehow manage to get these to turn out as well as I hope.​

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Let me know what you think. Comments, suggestions, and useful critiques are always welcome.​

Thanks.​

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt

Nice work so far. Love the plans.

 

[NormanF]

Again taking NormanF’s advice, I ordered a gallon can of Evercoat’s Rage© Premium body filler to use as a skim coat and correct a couple of minor errors that were the result of rapidly dulling tools!

A gallon? $$$ The quart cans are bad enough. Be careful mixing it or you will get pin holes. You can start sanding it before it fully cures.
After the experience with the nosecone I probably could have saved myself a lot of time and tears by using balsa instead of foam. The one big advantage to using foam is I could use my drawings to cut out a negative of the body and used that to directly shape the foam. And it still came out a little wrong.

Also, first time being a reference, woot!

Sent from my Etch-A-Sketch

 

[TopSnipe]

Re: Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt

A gallon? $$$ The quart cans are bad enough.

Managed to find the gallon size can on Advanced Auto's website for $22+$10 shipping. With the web-only sales discount, total out-of-pocket was $31.

 

[NormanF]

The only place I could find Rage was Sherwin Williams Automotive. Seemed like ordering it was just as expensive.

I see two minor differences from my reference pictures: The fins do not line up with the screws and there are only 16 "petals" on the underside.

Also, you cannot make it better than mine.

Sent from my Etch-A-Sketch

 

[TopSnipe]

Re: Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt

Some UGLY progress...


I got home from work this afternoon and decided to throw some filler at the body blank. I'd forgotten how bad I was at working with this stuff! As you can see, my second batch started to set up a bit too quickly and got really lumpy on me before I was completely finished.

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You can see the can of Evercoat I had shipped from Advanced Auto's website in the background.

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I'll throw this back on the lathe to sand it down some and then add another coat or two to finish the initial layer.


More to come once the coat sets up enough to sand!

 

[NormanF]

Trust me, it is better to have it set too soon. I lost one blank because some of it never cured. And I don't think that is Rage but another of their products. Also from personal experience keep your lathe speed slow. I was lucky I didn't get hurt.

Sent from my Etch-A-Sketch

 

[TopSnipe]

Re: Fallout Mini Nuke - My First Prop Attempt

And I don't think that is Rage but another of their products.

That probably explains the $22 price tag! Thanks for the safety reminder too.

 

[TopSnipe]

The Detonator


Managed to get back to the lathe yesterday and turned out a couple of bits that will eventually become the Detonator and the fuse. Some progress picture below.

The larger blank is for the detonator and the smaller is for the fuse.

I pre-drilled the outside diameter of the pin that was supposed to extend down into the body. The idea was to then use a parting tool to separate the out chunk & save a bunch of time whittling away at the unused bit that otherwise would have been destined to become so much sawdust.

This is what happens when you try to get too fancy and don't measure distances correctly!

I still managed to salvage the upper part of the detonator and I think the proportions are correct.

One of the hazards of turning MDF to a small diameter is that it becomes fragile! I had the fuse mostly turned and was test fitting the pieces together when the point of the fuse came off in my hand!

After donning my EOD gear, I installed a very high tech fuse removal device...

and successfully removed the damaged fuse.

The Fuse

Second attempt at the fuse was made from a couple of scap piece of oak, but the proportions ended up a bit off.

Third run was turned from a pine furniture leg picked up on clearance (.75¢) at the BORG.

Proportions seem to be pretty good with this one.

The next step is to coat the two new pieces and prep them for assembly. Once all the parts are sealed and smooth, I can bore the holes for the Detonator and fuse assemblies.


Still need to build a jig to cut the slots for the fins and then build the stabilizer ring.


As always comments, suggestions, and and useful critisism are welcome.

 

[Scrap Droids]

I love watching Fallout Props come to life. I love the work and can't wait to see this project come full term. Very nice work so far.

 

[TopSnipe]

Back to work! Fin Time...

After a short jaunt down to Charleston, SC to visit my Daughter and the CSS Hunley, I started back in on the Mini-Nuke Project last evening.

Before I can start to fabricate the stabilizer ring I needed to establish the outer diameter of the fins. To do this I went ahead and made a full set of four (4). They differ slightly from the drawns I posted earlier because I realized that, while AutoCAD is great for ease of dimensioning, I don't have the ready means to create a physical product to that level of accuracy!

So... I rounded everything off to the nearest ½-inch! Final dimensions are: 2 ½” x 4”

I used ¼” thick MDF and tapered the outer (trailing?) eadge using a very careful grip and a 6” belt grinder.

Here are all 4 fins, layout complete and 1st cuts made.​

This angle shows the tapered trailing edge of the fins.​

Another view to emphasize the tapered edge detail.​

The full fin set!​

A quick mock-up of the assembly to date.​

12" scale in the background for height reference.​

I also didn't like the fuse once I got it set up for the above photos; it had too sharp a point and wasn't right if referenced against images from the game, so I decided to round it off a bit more. I think it looks a lot better now.

The next step is to chuck it back up in the lathe and turn the recess that the detonator fits into and then build a jig/base for my router so that I can cut the slots for the fins. Once that's done, I can determine the diameter of the stabilizer ring and start fabrication of the next to final piece(s).

Now where did I put the spiral up-cut bit? :confused

 

[Mollins]

Looking good so far (though I must admit, at the moment it is reminding me more of The Mighty Monarch's Hive than anything else!)

 

[darkestknight]

Really nice looking work there, keep it up I want to make an enclave hellfire power armour suit eventually, and a mini nuke would go well with that!

 

[clancampbell]

You know you're going to have to build a Fat Man for this, right? Lol! Great build, looking forward to the finished nuke!

Rich

 

[Charl]

Looking good so far! I've been working on my own one in a very similar method as yours.

Only suggestion I would make to get a more accurate body on the lathe would be to draw or trace the finished project on paper (use graph paper if needed), and include a centerline on the drawing. Then use spray mount adhesive to apply the paper to thin, stiff paperboard or cardboard (posterboard). Use an X-acto or utility knife to cut down the centerline of the pattern and then cut off the profiles to make a negative image of the piece, thus creating a template. The template you made has the exact negative profile of the turning you are making. You can then hold this up to the wood to mark out the dimensions along the length of the nuke body, and use the template as you turn to check your progress. You can also write measurement references on the template to help you dimension the different areas of the turning to the sizes they need to be. The negative template is easier to reference than a finished turning. And since you now have a master template, every turning you create will be fairly close to one another in appearance and size.

Hope this helps, keep it up, cant wait to see it finished!

 

[TopSnipe]

Thanks for all of the possitive feedback so far!

Charl, thanks for the template tip. I tried using a posterboard template when turning the body, but ran into a couple of issues. The posterboard is too flimsy. I need to a) laminate several copies together or b) use your tip, and glue a single copy to a scrap piece of hardboard.

I think I'll go with option B next time.

The other issue I ran into was that MDF tends to dull my turning tools fairly quickly, especially at the glue joints between the layers. It may be that this is due to the type of wood glue I used. I may try using a urethane-based (Gorilla) glue next time.

Again, thanks for the feedback, and as usual, comments, suggestions, and and useful critisisms are always welcome.

 

[TopSnipe]

MOVING FORWARD

I finally got the jig required to cut the fin slots built. Since this was to be a one-time use item, I just a cobbled together several pieces of scrap material I had laying around using a bunch of clamps. This turned out to be a REALLY bad idea. The clamps would have interfered with router operation (limiting travel) preventing me from fully cutting the slots. The piece I used for the original top (slotted) was too flexible. This would have allowed deviation and potentially caused the bit to bind. The entire thing was also very wobbly as well. No telling how much damage I could have done (to the prop and myself!) if I had gone forward with its use.

Version 2.0 is pictured below. Everything was glued up solid and the top is ½” cabinet grade ply. The jig is wide enough to slide around any cylindrical object that’s 7” or less in diameter, so I can use it as a fluting jig for future projects. The only thing I would have changed, is to wax the area between the guides (where the router rides) to make it just a bit easier for the router to slide. I installed the guide strips a bit snugly because I was afraid of the router jumping around as I was cutting the slot.

The Setup​

The Jig & Router​

The Jig​

Slots Cut​

Slot Detail​

Once I got the slots cut, I had to test fit the fins. You know… Just to see how it looks! Everything is VERY snug. I could probably leave them pressed in as they are and never need to worry about them falling out/off!

Fins Installed​

Since I had the fins installed I decided to go ahead and glue up the stabilizer ring. I bought a standard “For Rent” sign at one of my local home improvement stores and cut it length-wise into 2” strips. The first strip was ‘just’ long enough to go around the outer circumference of the fins. I added a couple of extra layers, filling the gap between ends with some scrap pieces, before cutting out the approximate final shape. Still needs to be sanded to thin/taper the trailing edge. I’ve ordered my first batch of Apoxie Sculpt, hope its as easy to work with as Volpin and others make it seem!

Stabilizer Ring - Step 1​

Stabilizer Ring - Step 2​

More details to follow soon. Painting is going to be FUN. I hope I don’t destroy this at that point!

As always, comments, suggestions, and useful criticisms are always welcome.

 

[madmanmoe64]

Looking really good, can't wait to see it all painted.

Does your lathe allow for precise rotation (allowing you to accurately space the fin slots at 90? degrees to one another)

Or are you turning it by hand and the lathe is just used to hold the piece steady?

 

[TopSnipe]

Looking really good, can't wait to see it all painted.

Does your lathe allow for precise rotation (allowing you to accurately space the fin slots at 90? degrees to one another)

Or are you turning it by hand and the lathe is just used to hold the piece steady?

Thanks for the compliment!

My lathe does have an indexable headstock with positive locks every 15°. Definitely made cutting the slots a whole bunch easier! The lock kept the body from rotating while I made the multiple router passes that cutting the fins slots required.

Thanks again.