111 Far-Out Fallout Fan Builds to Welcome You Back to the Wasteland

Ten days ago, Bethesda sent me an advance copy of Fallout 4.

It came in a plain brown envelope containing the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions on optical media, plus an activation code to download the PC version through Steam. There was a nice note from their PR company, shown above, as well as a single printed page explaining the terms of the press embargo, which lifted at 0800 ET yesterday. The game officially goes on sale today.

Since it arrived, I have managed to bathe a couple of times, eat at least once a day, not lose my job, and not (seriously) alienate my better half. Otherwise, I have not gotten much done.

Between her various characters and mine, we’ve now logged almost 60 hours of play, and it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface. The game is simply huge, and for my money (which, to be fair, I did not actually spend), it gets all the same things right as Fallout 3, and many more besides — there’s more to do, more to discover, and more to create. The crafting system from New Vegas has been much expanded and improved, and an entirely new base-building mechanic introduced, which is a feature I find especially appealing. Now, instead of just shooting and looting your way through the wreckage, you can actually start cleaning it up. This strikes me as a more grown-up response to the post-apocalyptic scenario, and is one of many ways the game seems to have matured along with its original audience.

SHOULD I BUY IT?

I don’t know. It is huge and beautiful and intensely engrossing. It promises to be a significant cultural phenomenon which — even if, like me, you’re not a hard-core gamer — you may not want to miss. On the other hand, like its predecessors, Fallout 4 is single-player only, and it will take tons of time to complete — time you might instead spend crafting and building (hopefully not so much shooting or looting) out in the real world.

To that point, I thought it might be appropriate to mark the new game’s release by rounding up a bunch of funny, clever, cool, and downright beautiful physical artifacts built by franchise fans over the years. There are a lot of these out there, but I’ve picked out eleventy-one personal faves to show off here, including props, papercraft, miniatures, MoCs, mods, wearables, armor, weapons — even a cat in costume. And as excited as I am about Fallout 4, the game, I am that much more excited about the wave of fresh inspiration it brings to this vibrant community, and about all the amazing new things these people are going to make and do.

Arts & Crafts

#001. Happy Vault Boy, in perler beads, by Tasha Lazaravich.

#002. Unhappy Vault Boy, also in perler beads, by an unknown Etsy seller.

#003. Posters by Erling Løken Andersen.

Look’s like he’s been forced to take down his original .EPS files, but you can still see a few lower-res images here. I remember Googling around years ago looking for real-world versions of the Fallout 3 in-game posters without much luck. Wish I’d run across this site before Bethesda’s lawyers did.

#004. More Posters by DeviantArt member [MattTheKid].

Get ’em while they’re hot.

#005. “A Soldier’s Last Post” by Patrik Garn of Garn Creations.

This is a sculpture at 1:1 scale. It’s almost five feet tall!

Miniatures

#006. Nuka-Cola Machine by DeviantArt member [CreatorofCoolShit].

I’m pretty sure this model comes from the original Fallout game.

#007. Nuka-Cola Machine by MTK Card Craft.

The vending machine from the first two Bethesda-era games. If you can extract the 3D model from the manufacturer’s data, it’s usually pretty easy to generate a fold-up paper model like this from most any videogame object.

#008. Pulowski Shelter by Lead Adventure Forum member [zizi666].

#009. Wrecked Cars, also by [zizi666].

#010. Liberty Prime by The Miniatures Page member [ChrisGermanicus].

If that’s a 28mm mini alongside, this original sculpt is almost six inches tall.

LEGO

#011. Vault 101 Minifig Stickers by Jack Bradley Meadows.

#012. Pip-Boy 3000 by Simon Liu.

#013. Vertibird by Flickr user [Lego Junkie].

#014. Mr. Gutsy by Tyler Moore.

#015. Fallout 4 Garage by Flickr user [pierre_import].

#016. AER-9 Laser Rifle by YouTuber [ZaziNombies].

Food & Drink

#017. Potato Crisps Box by Etsy seller [AngryRobotsCosplay].

#018. “Fat Man” cocktail by [The Drunken Moogle].

#019. Cook-Cook’s Fiend Stew by Instructables user [rachaelwhitaker].

#020. BlamCo Mac & Cheese by Instructables user [rachaelwhitaker].

#021. YumYum Deviled Eggs by Instructables user [rachaelwhitaker].

#022. Fancy Lads Snack Cakes by Instructables user [rachaelwhitaker].

#023 Nuka-Cola caps by Instructables user [HAZARDu5].

#024. Nuka-Cola label by DeviantArt member [Whatpayne].

Print out, cut out, and apply to a 25cm Coke bottle.

#025. Nuka Cola Quantum by YouTuber [Keevanski].

Download the original label art here. This trick is often done with a fluorescent liquid in the bottle and a set of UV LEDs in the base. See also this Instructable by [TheGeekFather].

Accessories

#026. G.O.A.T. Exam by YouTuber [Keevanski].

Download the original art here.

#027. Vault Boy Money by YouTuber [Keevanski].

Download the original art here.

#028. RobCo Processor Widget by Thingiverse user [TCorgard].

Shown here with holder by [jeffrey892].

#029. Holodisk by Thingiverse user [Hyena_Of_Doom].

#030. Repconn Rocket Toy by Instructables user [antagonizer].

#031. “Big Guns” Skill Book by Etsy seller [Chanced1].

#032. “Energy Weapons” Skill Book, also by [Chanced1].

#033. Bobblehead by Thingiverse user [abei].

#034. Necktie by Etsy seller [UnicornBait].

#035. V.A.T.S. Hoodie by an unknown Etsy seller.

#036. Nuka-Cola “Flip Lighter” by an unknown eBay seller.

#037. Vault Boy Concept Bike by Moscow designer Mikhail Smolyanov.

OK, yes, it’s just a rendering. Still, damn.

Mods

#038. RobCo Ubuntu Terminal by YouTuber [Popescu Sorin].

#039. “PipTec” Icons and Theme for Android by Nate Wren Graphic Design.

#040. “Terminal” by Dewayne Carel.

#041. VAULT-TEC Custom PS4 by Redditor [jriquelme].

#042. “Vault 101” by overclock.net user [Alex].

#043. “Radiation King” by Redditor [rodrosenberg].

#044. “Please Stand By” by [unknown].

I suspect this picture is actually a ‘Shop job based on the beautiful, but distinctly non-Fallout-themed, retro Soviet TV casemod first published here, and attributed to one Peteris Tenisons. Still, points for concept.