SdAufKla
Active member
So, as a bit of decompression project a few months back, I decided to make my wife a model Nuka Cola machine. She's a huge Fallout video game fan, and although video games are no my cup-o'-tea, I do appreciate the aesthetics and vision that the gaming artists put into them. Fallout is visually fascinating, and one of the iconic images in the game is the Nuka Cola machine. Of the many challenges and tasks that players have, finding the machines is a basic one. The full bottles of Nuka Cola (in their many and varied flavors) are sources of nourishment and medicinal health, and the bottle caps represent the new currency of the post-apocalyptical world.
I want to make my wife a model of the Nuka Cola machine that she could put near her gaming area for a little inspiration and motivation. I decided to go with something around 1/24-1/25 scale (as best as I could figure out from screen grabs of the game). Since they're no commercial kits (that I'm aware of), I decided to go with a combination of desktop 3D printing and traditional scratch-building to make the model. With the game's popularity, I figured that I wouldn't have much trouble finding a 3D printable file of the machine online. However, this actually was considerably harder than I expected. In the end, I was able to find a very basic file on Thingiverse, but the .stl (dot-stereolithographic 3D printable) file lacked most details and was done in a rough, heavily faceted design. Still, it was a start.
I remixed the .stl by scaling it to my estimated 1/24-1/25 size, smoothed out some of the facets, and then added the surface details like the Nuka Cola script logo, the coin-op slot and controls, etc. I had to make the CAD and .stl's for the Nuka Cola bottles and the racks in the display unit. I did manage to find a .stl of the bottle cap intended to be printed out full-size for cosplayers, so I was able to re-scale those to match my bottles. All of these parts were printed on my Anycubic Photon desktop MSLA 3D printer using Elegoo gray resin. Once printed, the assembly process is nearly identical to working with comparable urethane resin parts that might have been cast in RTV molds. Same tooling methods and adhesives, etc. Basically, a "resin" kit like any other. The clear window on the door of the display unit is .010 Evergreen clear styrene sheet.
When I started the project, I had no intentions of actually posting any in progress shots of the build or finishing, so, unfortunately, no pics of any of that work....
The Nuka Cola machine, bottles and caps were finished using airbrushed Floquil and Tamiya paints followed with hand-brushing details and weathering effects using mostly Vallejo Model Colors. I did use some Mig streaking and dust / dirt accumulation fluids, along with artist oil paint washes and streaking. I finished with a semi-transparent dust glaze mixed up with Testors Dull Coat and a very (VERY!) small amount of Tamiya Buff.
Once I had the machine, bottles and caps finished, I began the mockup process for the little display. I wanted to replicate the arid, high desert terrain that's seen in most of the game. I also wanted to fit the entire thing in a glass dome for dust protection. As I was actually building and finishing the model, I shopped around online and bought the dome and base. When I was ready to mockup the scene, I had my working dimensions and shape. I actually went through a couple of evolutions before I took these first photos of the final layout on an under base made of styrene stock.
The organ pipe cactus is a soft vinyl offering from Pegasus models. They sell a couple of sets of desert cactus plants molded in a bright styrene-vinyl material. It's a little harder than the soft "green army man" stuff, but softer than normal kit styrene. I can still be tooled, though, to remove mold seams, etc. It also can be glued with normal styrene cements. I selected one of the larger plants to help balance the scene and establish the setting.
The Pegasus cactus plants can be treated like regular kit parts, and although somewhat "basic," with a little work, they doll-up nicely. I cleaned up the mold seams and glued the parts together. I gave the plant an airbrushed primer coat of Tamiya flat white and then painted it by hand with various Vallejo Model Colors. For the new growth and flowers, I glued on some Woodland Scenics ground foam and highlighted with bright yellow. I turned the plant upside down and airbrushed a little semi-transparent Tamiya earth and buff.
The ground textures were added using Aves two-part epoxy putty with some small rocks pressed in and sand sprinkled on. I wanted to suggest something like an abandoned gas station or motel, and to reinforce the southwestern high desert look, I decided to go with terracotta like tiles with a concrete curb. The tiles were simply formed into the epoxy putty. The same was formed around the curbs and textured.
To replicate the cement grout and blown sand between the tiles, the top of the base was brushed with... wait for it... pre-mixed, fine sanded tile grout from the local big box home improvement store. This stuff is essentially the same as a textured artist acrylic gel medium, so it can be thinned and cleaned up with ordinary water. I simply wiped the tops of the tiles with a damp paper towel to leave the sanded grout in between them. I also used the same thing to clean up the edges of the base.
I started off with airbrushed Tamiya earth colors. I did hand brush the sides of the base with common water-based flat black craft paint and the curbs with Vallejo flat white before the earth tones were airbrushed on.
Next I did some sponge chipping on the curbs with various grays and some dry-brushing on the earth areas.
Over this I used some washes done with the Mig dust / dirt accumulations, artist oils, etc. I added more bright white chipping to the curbs, doing a couple of evolutions on them to suggest that they had been painted many times in the past. I wanted the final appearance to be of the last white coat chipping away in the irradiated dust storms of the Fallout world.
Finally, I added the pre-finished modeled elements, tying them to the base with some final weathering.
And one final view of the scene under the glass dome. A veritable post-apocalyptic treasure trove of un-opened Nuka Cola and enough bottle caps to buy New Vegas (well, not quite... maybe enough to buy a broken down Claptrap robot)!
I want to make my wife a model of the Nuka Cola machine that she could put near her gaming area for a little inspiration and motivation. I decided to go with something around 1/24-1/25 scale (as best as I could figure out from screen grabs of the game). Since they're no commercial kits (that I'm aware of), I decided to go with a combination of desktop 3D printing and traditional scratch-building to make the model. With the game's popularity, I figured that I wouldn't have much trouble finding a 3D printable file of the machine online. However, this actually was considerably harder than I expected. In the end, I was able to find a very basic file on Thingiverse, but the .stl (dot-stereolithographic 3D printable) file lacked most details and was done in a rough, heavily faceted design. Still, it was a start.
I remixed the .stl by scaling it to my estimated 1/24-1/25 size, smoothed out some of the facets, and then added the surface details like the Nuka Cola script logo, the coin-op slot and controls, etc. I had to make the CAD and .stl's for the Nuka Cola bottles and the racks in the display unit. I did manage to find a .stl of the bottle cap intended to be printed out full-size for cosplayers, so I was able to re-scale those to match my bottles. All of these parts were printed on my Anycubic Photon desktop MSLA 3D printer using Elegoo gray resin. Once printed, the assembly process is nearly identical to working with comparable urethane resin parts that might have been cast in RTV molds. Same tooling methods and adhesives, etc. Basically, a "resin" kit like any other. The clear window on the door of the display unit is .010 Evergreen clear styrene sheet.
When I started the project, I had no intentions of actually posting any in progress shots of the build or finishing, so, unfortunately, no pics of any of that work....
The Nuka Cola machine, bottles and caps were finished using airbrushed Floquil and Tamiya paints followed with hand-brushing details and weathering effects using mostly Vallejo Model Colors. I did use some Mig streaking and dust / dirt accumulation fluids, along with artist oil paint washes and streaking. I finished with a semi-transparent dust glaze mixed up with Testors Dull Coat and a very (VERY!) small amount of Tamiya Buff.
Once I had the machine, bottles and caps finished, I began the mockup process for the little display. I wanted to replicate the arid, high desert terrain that's seen in most of the game. I also wanted to fit the entire thing in a glass dome for dust protection. As I was actually building and finishing the model, I shopped around online and bought the dome and base. When I was ready to mockup the scene, I had my working dimensions and shape. I actually went through a couple of evolutions before I took these first photos of the final layout on an under base made of styrene stock.
The organ pipe cactus is a soft vinyl offering from Pegasus models. They sell a couple of sets of desert cactus plants molded in a bright styrene-vinyl material. It's a little harder than the soft "green army man" stuff, but softer than normal kit styrene. I can still be tooled, though, to remove mold seams, etc. It also can be glued with normal styrene cements. I selected one of the larger plants to help balance the scene and establish the setting.
The Pegasus cactus plants can be treated like regular kit parts, and although somewhat "basic," with a little work, they doll-up nicely. I cleaned up the mold seams and glued the parts together. I gave the plant an airbrushed primer coat of Tamiya flat white and then painted it by hand with various Vallejo Model Colors. For the new growth and flowers, I glued on some Woodland Scenics ground foam and highlighted with bright yellow. I turned the plant upside down and airbrushed a little semi-transparent Tamiya earth and buff.
The ground textures were added using Aves two-part epoxy putty with some small rocks pressed in and sand sprinkled on. I wanted to suggest something like an abandoned gas station or motel, and to reinforce the southwestern high desert look, I decided to go with terracotta like tiles with a concrete curb. The tiles were simply formed into the epoxy putty. The same was formed around the curbs and textured.
To replicate the cement grout and blown sand between the tiles, the top of the base was brushed with... wait for it... pre-mixed, fine sanded tile grout from the local big box home improvement store. This stuff is essentially the same as a textured artist acrylic gel medium, so it can be thinned and cleaned up with ordinary water. I simply wiped the tops of the tiles with a damp paper towel to leave the sanded grout in between them. I also used the same thing to clean up the edges of the base.
I started off with airbrushed Tamiya earth colors. I did hand brush the sides of the base with common water-based flat black craft paint and the curbs with Vallejo flat white before the earth tones were airbrushed on.
Next I did some sponge chipping on the curbs with various grays and some dry-brushing on the earth areas.
Over this I used some washes done with the Mig dust / dirt accumulations, artist oils, etc. I added more bright white chipping to the curbs, doing a couple of evolutions on them to suggest that they had been painted many times in the past. I wanted the final appearance to be of the last white coat chipping away in the irradiated dust storms of the Fallout world.
Finally, I added the pre-finished modeled elements, tying them to the base with some final weathering.
And one final view of the scene under the glass dome. A veritable post-apocalyptic treasure trove of un-opened Nuka Cola and enough bottle caps to buy New Vegas (well, not quite... maybe enough to buy a broken down Claptrap robot)!
