Pip-Boy Mk IV Pic Thread (WIP)

LoneWanderer

Well-Known Member
So hello all, a while ago I came on here asking for help to wire my Collector's Edition Pip-Boy project lights and a bunch of other newbie inquisitions. So now that I have all of that jazz sorted out and I'm about 70% done with my build right now, and things are looking pretty good I think!
Here we go Jake Joke haha
PIP main.jpg

So here is the (potato) quality pic of the pipboy from the front. Sorry for the bit of focusing issues, i think my phone is having camera issues lately. Anyway, from this image you can see the device as it appears in off mode. So for the overall look, I really wanted to keep it looking brand-new off the RobCo production line for a unique one-of-a-kind Pip-Boy. I replaced the plastic screws with real metal ones, even the tiny little bastards on the side of the rad counter and back of the Holotape deck. There are two speakers hidden below the black vents on the front of either side of the Pip-Boy here, and the sound is surprisingly loud and clear too so that was great! The paint job it received used a custom mixed coyote brown spray paint bath, matte black for all the knobs and screen surround, and a WIP silvery color for the four heat sinks near the bottom. (I really wanna make them more accurate dark metallic looking using a darkened rub n buff, this may be done tonight.)


home screen.jpg

So here you can see the Pip-Boy booted up! Lights on, featuring the two amber power lights and my own custom LED's added to the radio and rad counter. Unfortunately you can't see the compass needle in the rad counter here as it has been drowned out by my camera. But onto the main attraction obviously, the Android powered Pip-Boy brains! I used a cheap but surprisingly powerful android Pixi Glitz as my base for modification and rooting. This picture features the home screen layout with a fully customized layout and display theme, completely Fallout 4 accurate. Featured on my home screen is the pip boy companion app of course and Pip-Tec, the app that makes all of this possible! It does have a fee but it is cheap and it works amazingly well once you root your android device. I kinda wanna add an analog clock to the main screen as well but that only takes a few minutes and I didn't for this photo shoot.

weather screen.jpg

Here is the screen one swipe to the left, it features a real-time weather monitoring service which I have set to Fountain Valley CA as a test for you guys! The location and 5-day forecast can easily be set to any location of my choosing and is actually very accurate. Something any Wastelander would love to have as an on-board feature. Again the lights for the rad counter have blown out the compass needle but oh well, the radio gives off a nice light here though. I figured the lighting fro my window would help show off some features but it appears all it has done is blow out the brightness from the LED's haha. Such is life sometimes though.


usb uplink.jpgusb close up.jpg

Moving right along, here is the fully functional USB Uplink cable coming directly from the phone through the Pip-Boy and out the back via the white cable housing as seen in-game! Not much to say about this feature besides that it is used for charging and file management for the Pip-Boy software updates and modification. The cable housing received its own custom paint as well, which was a 'Brilliant White' I believe and a nice shiny clear coat for that like-new aesthetic. This part was probably the easiest so far as most of it was already made, it just had to be reassembled and painted.

So those are all the pics I have to show off for now! Thanks so so so much to xl97 for all his help on the wiring process and of course a huge shout out to zapwizard for his assistance and suggestions along the way as well. Now on to the fun stuff: future plans!

As I said above, this project is only about 70% done right now in my mind with a few large things left to do, and several smaller things too.
So here are the plans...

1. Finish the functional analog radio implementation and build functionality into the radio tuning knob. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of these: http://www.ladiesgadgets.com/motz-mini-wooden-radio-speaker/
This is the coolest little gadget and it works perfectly, so I have drawn up plans to integrate the hardware of it into the frame and it should just fit, snugly haha. Then I want to rig the tuner to the radio tuner of the Pip-Boy and voila! I'll have a great, real, little functional radio on the Pip-Boy!

2. Clean up the housing for the USB up-link cable on the back of the Pip-Boy. As of right now the inside of the housing where it sits is exposed and looks ugly as hell, as seen in the picture. It's all black and you can see the magnet where it attaches, it's a mess. So that will be cleaned up and covered up with an idea I have had from the beginning but it won't take long and I can do it later on with the final touch ups. It's too hard to explain right now I've been trying haha so I'll just post a pic when I finish it later.

3. The Big Daddy section still left here, I want to make a Holotape Deck capable of housing one of the Holotape's from the game. Functionality is still up for debate in my head but as for now I definitely want it to open and close and be able to fit a 3D printed Holotape inside for fun. (Probably either Zeta Invaders or Grognak And the Ruby Ruins, because the art on those Holotape game covers are just spectacular.) The plans for a 3D printable holotape deck are available online thanks to @lilykills but I'd have to figure out how to print just the tape deck portion and scale it for my model. All things are possible with time, patience, and effort though!

Art for the Zeta invaders and Grognak Holotapes:
Fallout4_Zeta_Invaders.pngFo4_grognak_ruby_ruins.png
They're so cool looking!!

So anyways, thanks for the read and feel free to ask any questions or throw out suggestions etc! :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The modifications you made look great, I am glad you replaced the screws.

Thanks Zap! I have a lot of the "to-do" list not mentioned on this post as it was just a quick write up, but as far as aesthetic stuff goes I have a lot of little things still to do! I'm happy to say most of my wiring is now complete and everything is permanently fitted into the Pip-Boy.
The radio is being fitted and wired in partly tonight and finished tomorrow, and the process of finalizing the custom boot screen has begun as well as the research into making some of the buttons and knobs functional.
 
Great work, man! I really like your painting and all the modifications you did on the general aspect of the original Pip-Boy from the collector. The layout of Android is also pretty neat, it gives the exact Fallout-feel from the games. This is definitely much better than the piece of plastic that we are used to know. Ahahah
 
Great work, man! I really like your painting and all the modifications you did on the general aspect of the original Pip-Boy from the collector. The layout of Android is also pretty neat, it gives the exact Fallout-feel from the games. This is definitely much better than the piece of plastic that we are used to know. Ahahah

I actually thought the collectors edition was pretty well-made for the price point. It's 60 bucks for the game which only leaves 60 bucks for the model, and whatever device you put into it. Plus the people who went full-crazy over it like a bunch of absurdly spoiled children were completely unfounded in their arguments. The thing was available to view since it was announced, and everybody knew what it was and what it looked like from launch. So the fringe group of folks who decided to blindly hate on it, and the game, just looked all the more dim. The Fallout community is and has always been a pretty split and somewhat toxic group of folks who divide themselves among which game they feel is best, and 4 was no different. The group of people looking to do nothing but hate on it were definitely present haha.

But all that aside thank you for the compliments! I still have quite a few modifications to go and side projects relating to Fallout 4! I'm kinda fearing the DLC that's going to introduce more content and items haha.
 
hey how did you install these lights ? are they rigged to the same circuit as the power button , also did you cut the terminal uplink off or ? I had this idea with usb and found this Forum, so I don't um pardon but "***** up" my pipboy .
 
Hey, yes the lights are all wired up to the stock plunger power button. It turns on the lights, as well as the main screen, speakers and brains of the Pip-Boy.

CAUTION: just for fair warning there is a lot of modification needed to get all this to work properly and still look accurate and pretty. Drilling, cutting, sanding, rotary work lots of soldering, and of course air brush painting. If you're worried about your pipboy getting messed up just be very careful with it and practice! I spent a lot of time making sure it still looked unscathed on mine and I'm pretty proud it still looks brand new, as my "prop story" is kinda that I found it sealed inside its box in a vault somewhere for over 200 years. So it's still new! That's why my box looks all weathered, but if you want to weather your pipboy it'll be more forgiving to some mistakes you might make.

The terminal uplink section has all been modified by me to fit the USB and magnetic seating for it more properly. Mine has a rubber sealer for looks and a brand new housing mechanism that im showing off a little bit later along with my custom sewn upholstery on the interior.
All this to come soon! Haha. I'll post some pics later today for the new pieces and the plexiglass screen I fit to the opening, I really like how that came out!
 
Rally nice! And that would be neat if the pip boy could hold tapes. Makes me think... I really need to weather mine at least XD
 
This thread is more than 8 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top