Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collection

travsall

Active Member
Finally got this finished up the other day! Been an in progress build for some time while I waited for some of the parts to come in, and figure out how to work with them LOL Bought the Pipboy body from Skruffy, could not be happier with it, beautiful casting, SUPER sharp details, and barely needed any work done, hard to ask for much more then that! I didn't go with one of his light packages, but should have, ended up spending more to get the pieces I needed for that mod after the fact. Oops. He did help me a bunch with tips on how to work with an EL sheet, and gave me the site where he gets his stuff from, sadly after I'd bought a package on ebay that turned out to not include the right inverter. Live and learn right? Anyways, long story short, his help, and fantastic body really let me bring to life a piece that makes me giggle with excitement to look at LOL HUGE HUGE fan of the games, it's so cool to have my own Pipboy!! Especially considering the accumulative time I've spent staring at one on my TV ;) On with the pics!

With the minimal clean up done, holes for screws/rivets drilled and a light coat of primer.
pipboybuild1.jpg

pipboybuild2.jpg

pipboybuild3.jpg

pipboybuild4.jpg


With undercoat of silver metallic paint, top coat of Skruffy recommended metallic texture paint done, and some weathering effects started
pipboybuild5.jpg

pipboybuild6.jpg

pipboybuild7.jpg


Weathering and detail paint work finished
pipboybuild8-1.jpg

pipboy10.jpg

pipboybuild9-1.jpg

pipboybuild10-1.jpg

pipboybuild11-1.jpg

pipboy11.jpg

pipboybuild12-1.jpg


Hinge glued and screwed in place, Status light LED added, rare earth magnets attached for closure.
pipboybuild15-1.jpg

pipboybuild14-1.jpg

pipboybuild13-1.jpg

pipboybuild16-1.jpg

pipboybuild17-1.jpg


*massive time lapse to get EL sheet, and wrong inverter, figure out what the problem was, and order the right inverter*

EL sheet testing, DAMN these are fun! I gotta find more uses for these, I wanna slap em on everything now LOL Rave version Darth Vader? Hmmm...
pipboybuilda1.jpg

IT WORKS!!! [Happy-Dance]
pipboybuilda2.jpg


And finally, the fully finished Pipboy 3000
pipboyfin1.jpg

The angle of this shot makes it look like the closure is quite a bit more off then it really is, I also left a little play in it so it will fit better and open wider.
pipboyfin2.jpg

It's guts, EL sheet inverter, 9 volt battery, and wiring, plus independent status light LED control board with button switch.
pipboyfin3.jpg

It's got a sweet backside too ;)
pipboyfin4.jpg

EL on
pipboyfin5.jpg

From inside a Deathclaw cave ;)
pipboyfin6.jpg


Then for fun, made up a quick display of all my Fallout pieces, and a couple extras. Included are, Pipboy 3000, 2 Nuka Cola bottles, Nuka Cola caps, Quantum caps, Sunset Sasaparilla caps, New Vegas chip, NCR patch, tin of Mentats, the Platinum chip, limited Wasteland collectors edition Vault-Tec bobble head, motorcycle goggles, Gun Runner made reinforced combat helmet, hunting shotgun, .44mag hunting revolver, 2 genuinely aged Capital Wasteland posters and random ammo ;)
vault2.jpg

close up
vault3.jpg

Careful, Pipboy light's on ;)
vault4.jpg

Vault lighting shot
vault5.jpg

And finally, a rare sighting, the elusive, thought to be extinct, or genetically altered with another animal, Vault cat! ;)
vault1.jpg
 
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Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Nada? No love for Fallout anymore? ;)
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

I've gotta say, it looks impressive! Very nice paint job on the PIP-Boy, too!

The EL sheet looks interesting, but was it only available in white? It looks like you may have benefited from something more green.

That said, looks sick!
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Very nice job! What method did you use for the weathering? On models, I generally use ground up pastel chalks, dry brushed on, but I haven't done much prop work, so I'm not sure that would be an effective method.

I'm doing the fallout themed Halloween costume this year, using Zook's pipboy parts. The rest I'm doing myself, including an AER9 based on NeXXt/Volpin's work.
Brewing some beer which will go into Sunset Sarsparilla labeled bottles with custom made caps for our Halloween party :)

Still need to find a jumpsuit to make into a vault suit, so if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Fantastic... what else is there to say really. I just finished a fallout homage myself and it was loads of fun.. kudos to the design guys for making such an awesome universe for us fans to borrow from.
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

I'm very impressed by this one ! Great job !
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

man that is a fat cat!
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Travis,

Your build looks great! I'm in the midst of putting together one of Skruffy's kits. Maybe it's the way I sanded it down, but I have a lot more of a gap in putting the two halves together. I was also wondering how you did your weathering as it looks awesome. Also, having the EL inverter still in its case -- no problems with space? In skruffy's thread, he took it out of the case to save internal space.

Anyway, you're build looks fantastic... hope mine comes out half as nice as yours!
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Amazing build, and I love the display too.
Fallout 3 and NV are definitely 2 of my favourite games of all time
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

looks good, I havent finished my kit from skruffy (looking for an ipod touch) but the texture paint you used gives yours a better used look. I may repaint mine. What did you use? That texture paint stuff from Michaels?
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

nice collection of goodies, my favourite has got to be bobble-head though.
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

I'd love one of these. Great work! :)
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Looks amazing. I want one. So jealous!!!! I don't know a damn thing about electronics. I'd be fine paying for one of these if someone wants to make me one...
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Very nice build. I need to break mine out of storage and get it finished.

thomas;)
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

That turned out really great! The weathering is really nicely done.

Did you just paint details with acrylic paints? Where did you get the EL sheeting from?
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Very nice build. These are especially informative and helpful as I embark on my quest to build one of these for myself. Very useful tips! Thanks!

Great collection, too.
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

This is a great build, I'm going to try my hand at one I think
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Could you let us in on your weathering technique , it's really good
 
Re: Pip-Boy 3000 (Fallout) build, start to finish! Plus my Fallout 3/New Vegas collec

Don't know why, but this thread went buck-wild-crazy on Reddit yesterday!
 
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