Fallout Vault Dweller/Lone Wanderer Costume: Part 1

I love Fallout 3.  It is a wonderful game full of exploration, awesome sights, great story, bad ass action, and more fun than you can shake a stick at.  Since I started playing it I've wanted to do a costume based on it.  Unfortunately by the time I think of making a costume for Halloween it's too late and I wouldn't have enough time to finish it.  This time, however, I remembered MisCon.  MisCon is Montana's biggest, baddest, most awesome (and only) Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention.  And it's in May.  Plenty of time to plan, gather, and construct a Vault Dweller/Lone Wanderer costume.  So on to the details!

In the world of Fallout there are these massive nuclear fallout shelters called Vaults and the citizens of these Vaults wear a distinctive blue and yellow jumpsuit:

This is the base of the costume.  A blue coverall/jumpsuit with some yellow bits.  However, many Fallout costumes on the net are poorly done.  I can't count the number of Vault-Tec jumpsuits I've seen that are just a blue jumpsuit with yellow tape on them.  Seriously people?  Yellow fucking tape?  Another big issue I have with most of them is the font.  Most people, even if they use real fabric for the yellow parts, just freehand the shape of the numbers.  However, the numbers use a specific, very 1950's style font.
Now, I'm not psycho about the details.  I'm not going to custom tailor a jumpsuit to match the game, making sure every last bit is right.  What I do want to do right is the big details.  The yellow parts are fabric and are obviously stitched on and do not extend around the collar.  The numbers are a specific font and are stitched on.  The forearms are brown leather.  The shoulder has that leather and metal piece.  The collar is not a standard jumpsuit/coverall collar.  These are the important details that I intend to focus on.
That being said, I probably won't get them perfect.  I suck at hand stitching and I've never used a sewing machine.  I can't afford leather so I'll probably use a fake leather or just dark brown cloth.  I'm not even going to try to make the belt (but I have reasoning behind that).  And while every Vault resident has a Pip-Boy, mine probably won't look like the one from the game (and I'll go into detail about that later).
You might be saying "But you made such a stink about accuracy and then you're not going to be accurate, what gives?"  Time, money, and skill are what gives.  I don't want to half-ass this costume but I'm also not going to be able to make it perfect.  What I can do it make it look good, and make it work within the world of Fallout.  You see, Fallout takes place in a wonderful, post-apocalyptic, post-nuclear war world.  The survivors get by scavenging and making due with what they have.  And that, my friends, is my saving grace.  My character could have lost his belt and scavenged a new one.  His Pip-Boy could have been damaged and then repaired with whatever he had on hand (and maybe it wasn't a model 3000a Pip-Boy to begin with).  The jumpsuit will be dirty, ragged, and abused.  Fallout is a world of DIY, dumpster diving, and using what you've got.  So why not take advantage of that?

The costume will consist of: a Vault-Tec jumpsuit (Vault 101 or 77), belt with holster/storage, 10mm pistol (Nerf Recon), and Pip-Boy.  I don't have a budget for the costume, but buying what I can when I can I hope to stay under $150 total.  The jumpsuit will probably be around $40-$50 total, the pistol will be around $30-$40, and the Pip-Boy could be anywhere from $20 to $50.
I'll keep you all posted on the status of the costume as it comes together.  In the words of Three-Dog, "Thanks for listening, chiiiiildren!"

It's Nerf or Nothin'

My name's Patrick and I'm an addict.  I'm not hooked booze, drugs, or sex (though that last one is debatable).  I am hooked on Nerf.  Once "the name" in soft foam balls, they have in recent years become really good at producing bright yellow (and sometimes blue) guns that shoot mostly harmless foam darts.  These plastic toy guns aren't just for kids, they are the pussy's paintball, the poor man's airsoft, the child-at-heart's war games.

If your blood doesn't start pumping at the idea of running around the park shooting your friends with guns then check your pants, because you have no balls.  This applies to the ladies as well (with metaphorical balls).  There's something built into the human spirit that loves a good fight, whether it be pistols at dawn, fists in the ring, or words at a rousing debate.  We are a competitive, confrontational, and violent species; why not take advantage of it?

You might say "But Nerf is for kids, why not play paintball?"  Have you ever been shot with a paintball?  It fucking hurts and leaves a big, nasty, painful bruise.  It's also expensive, requiring not only pricey guns, gas, and paint but safety equipment as well.  I'll pass, thank you.  Nerf, on the other hand, is inexpensive (one of the best guns, the Maverick,  is only $10) and only hurts if you get popped in the eye, which can be avoided by not aiming for the face and wearing sunglasses.

You've also got the cool factor.  Most paintball guns look the same (and aren't exactly cool looking to begin with), while Nerf guns (aside from the ugly yellow/orange color scheme) look neat and have designs that resemble real-life and futuristic guns.  Don't like the color?  Get some plastic-friendly spray paint and change it, though I recommend keeping the yellow/orange color and avoiding black for safety reasons (cops aren't going to arrest and detain you as a terror suspect for running around with a yellow plastic gun, a black one that looks like a FN P90 or a Dragunov SVD earns you a one way trip to handcuff-ville [though not in a good way]).  There's also the cosplay/steampunk aspect.  Need a weapon for your custom sci-fi/comic/gaming convention?  Grab a cheap ass Nerf gun and paint, cut, glue, mod the hell out of it and you've got a wicked cool looking gun that, if you were careful about it, still shoots orange foam darts.

With recent guns, Nerf has created an addict's hell.  The mass implementation of the clip-system, barrel attachments, and removable stocks in addition to their previous tactical rails has opened the guns up to crazy customization.  Don't like the short barrel of your Deploy?  Grab the barrel extension from the Recon.  Want more ammo capacity for your Longstrike or Stampede? Get a Raider and use the 35-round drum magazine.  Need a folding stock for your Recon?  Wait with baited breath for the Spectre to be released.  Each new gun seems to have parts that make the older guns better and cooler.

I only have two Nerf guns at the moment, but that will change in the near future.  I may be addicted to Nerf, but at least I've found a relatively cheap and exceptionally fun hobby.  :)