Minor Update

Added some shots of how I set up the solar cell and tried to clean up the rest of it a little. Looks a bit better


~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^


I wish I could say this was a quick little project I did one afternoon, but in reality it turned out to be the project from hell. There weren't any shops in the area that sold glass bottles, so I had to buy them online. Then the first guy I go to on eBay doesn't ship them, answer my emails, or even claim the payment, so i had to buy them again from someone else, which cost me an extra week. Then, the post office won't ship me the solar cell because they contain lithium, and apparently that's a "hazardous material".

Oy.

But they're done! Let me explain for those that don't know. In the Fallout universe, the mock-brand Nuka Cola (Coca Cola) was a popular brand before the war, and is still prevalent in the wasteland afterward. The rare Quantum flavor was introduced very shortly before the war began, and actually contains a radioactive isotope in the formula to make it glow (additionally making the drink addictive in the game). What I've done to replicate this is I have the bottle sitting on one of those little nightstand press-lights with rechargeable batteries, and a solar cell with a small Schottky diode network added inside the lamp to keep the batteries charged, sort of a set-and-forget setup.

The regular Nuka Cola is an unopened bottle of Coca Cola with a new label and re-painted caps. The Quantum, however, is about half blue Gatorade and half water with a little blue and red food coloring (to give it that purple-ish tint). I ended up re-sealing the bottle by putting epoxy around the inside of the lid and rubber-banding it down for a few hours. The Quantum cap and the loose caps sitting around the bottles I made by giving them a primer coat in flat red or blue spray-paint, using regular elmer's glue to stick the label on, then a clear sealant spray-paint coat, which darkened the paper label to match the rest of the cap almost perfectly.

The dresser I have all of my Fallout models set on is in front of a broken window in my room, so I was able to tape the solar cell right to the window so it will always be in the sunlight, even if the shade isn't drawn. It seems to be working so far, but it's only been a day and a half, so we'll see.

I used 's labels for the bottles (with a few _tiny adjustments), and modified Chris Furniss's template to make clean "pre-war" caps. I originally wanted to cut out a stencil to paint the label right onto the caps, but that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, and with the spray sealant on them they match the spray paint color very closely.

This is hardly an original project idea; more of an homage to Fallout in general, as well as something to sate my need for more Fallout while I wait for New Vegas to be released. Overall I am satisfied with the results, and the eerie glow the Quantum gives my room at night



Animated 24 Hour Time Lapse