Costuming...Costuming Never Changes

When I first went to Dragon*Con in 2009, one of the outfits I brought with me was a Lone Wanderer outfit from the game Fallout 3.  My lovely fiancee made a jumpsuit that looked pretty good, I made a Pipboy 3000 out of an old armor bracer and MDF wood, and I wandered around Dragon*Con with it on.  What was more fun was walking around Washington D.C. on the way home in it (Fallout 3 takes place in "The Capitol Wastes", and you can go to many of the National Monuments and Museums in-game).  I hit the Air and Space Museum, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall (with the Washington Monument in the background)...good fun.  Got some decent photos which I should probably post up one of these days, but I knew I could make it look better. 

I wasn't happy with my Pipboy, so I ended up selling it when someone asked me about it.  Since then I know someone on the Replica Movie Props forums has used the Pipboy Clock that came with the very expensive Survivalists Edition of the game to make some realistic looking and wearable Pipboy 3000s.  I have a lead on one of them, and with my replaying/finally-getting-around-to-finishing Fallout: New Vegas I have a sudden hankering to break out the Vault-suit, fix it up, and make it look all nice for Halloween.



"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over how awesome this armor is..."



(...I wonder if I can get my fiancee to go as a Raider girl.  Or Joana.  Or Red Lucy.  Or Moria...no wait, if she does the accent I might have to choke her...)

One thing I did notice in my explorations of the Internet; there are some awesome folks out there making props for Fallout games.  There is no way I could afford to pick up a suit of T-45a Power Armor, like I saw at Dragon*Con this year.  It looked great, but...gah.  Too Expensive for me.

I dig my Vault Suit, that's for sure.  What I really want to do is make it look even better.  There are leather pieces I didn't do when I put the suit together.



Vault Jumpsuit


There are some Leather cuffs I should make.  If I make them removable, I can differentiate between the standard Vault Jumpsuit and the Utility Suit.  Not sure I like the look of the boots for the Utility Jumpsuit, however.

The Vault Jumpsuit also has this leather...half collar/strap that runs over the left shoulder.  I should be able to make that, but how to attach it?  If I want to just leave it as the Vault Jumpsuit, and not make the cuffs removable to do the Utility Suit, I could use Velcro.  I wouldn't want to permanently attach it, in case it needs to go through the wash (mmmm...co-funk).  Maybe it's something I can work out with an old friend; Rare-Earth Magnets...



Utility Jumpsuit

 And then there's the belt; that shouldn't be too tough.  Belt blank, maybe buy and cut up a second one to make the leather squares that run along it, and do a custom leather piece for the back.  Make the buckle out of Styrene over a metal belt-buckle blank and it's good to go.





Armored Vault Suit

I could even upgrade and do the Armored Jumpsuit.  That could be fun, and it gives me some neat add on pieces that I might be able to use for other costumes, at LARPs or the like.  Problem is, that's a lot of leatherwork, something I have little experience with.  Ah well, anything worth doing is worth learning how to do...

I'd love a Nuka-Cola cap, but custom embroidery is expensive...

I'm also interested in authentic weaponry from the game...

• The Shishkabob would be fun, but I might have some problems getting the gas tank...
• This Combat Shotgun is okay, and kinda neat, but were I to make it, I'd want to build the "trap-version" and mount it at head height by a door in my house.
• I really want to make one of these Laser Rifles.  It looks sweet, and it's made mostly out of MDF.  Mostly.
• I could always start with a Laser Pistol, and see how that goes.  (EDIT: Oh look...awesomeness in a step-by-step basis!)
• A cop-out would be turning a Nerf Maverick into a 10mm Pistol.  I should be able to do that on a weekend...

Then there's just the neat accessories, like Stim-packs, Skill Books, and the other items that can be found lying around the world of Fallout.

So I've got some propmaking to do, and looking at the calendar I've got very little time to do it.  With two LARP weekends creeping up, the only time to make props will be during the week.  We'll see if and how that goes.

Still, it's worth doing, because I think a well-done Vault Dweller/Lone Wanderer looks really, really good.

Or maybe I'll just break down and do the Courier...