ok so my costume was just about done for halloween, when i decided th add the final finishing touch…a belt gizmo! i had considered buying a resin replica, but thought it would be cooler if i just made my own. its made out of a kydex thermoplastic board with vinyl decals on top, then a matte clear coat over it. the nixie shelf if also a kydex one-off and iused the legit russian IV-9 nixies. the resistors and capacitors are all from radio shack. the lights behind the nixies are michael’s crafts $1 specials and are powered by 2 C batteries on the back of the board. i liked the orange lighs bc real nixies glow orange. the holster is also custom, make out of 16-gauge welded sheet metal, mainly for protection. the daughterboard was made with the same components as the gizmo, and the coil cord is a coiled instrument cable with a telephone jack on one end and a hacked up USB connector on the gizmo. the circuit chips on the board are also kydex with decals on top.
AWESOME!
Very nice; interesting take on the holster as well!
thanks guys! the slit on the bottom is to access the slider switch for the lights. the inside of the holster is padded with 1/8" foam so the gizmo stays in place.
Great Job! I really like this! Is that heat shrink tubing your sleeved on the nixies? Did you take a blowdyer to it upon sleeving?
I like this a lot. I might try it after I actually built a real belt gizmo.
Mighty impressive! 
Those real nixies really add an authentic flair. The lights look great too! :crunch:
thanks! i appreciate all the positive feedback! i tried to keep it as close to the real thing, while still being on a semi-budget. the most tedious thing was installing the lights- drilling all 20 holes in the nixie shelf, then hot gluing all the bulbs in and making the wiring be as neat and hidden as possible. it looks sweet on the uniform all together and lit up…don’t worry, i’ll have plenty of pics of the completed finished getup by the end of the month. a lot of sweat, blood, tears and a whole heap of cash went into everything, as with most everyone on this forum, but i wouldn’t trade it for anything. i’ve wanted a legit GB costume since i was about 3 or 4, and now at 23 i finally have it!
Pretty cool stuff.
thanks! yea, i used heat shrink tubing, and thankfully i had it in a variety of colors and the right diameter. its not the easiest thing finding heat shrink in any other color but black. i used a lighter to shrink the tubing, making sure i didn’t get close enough to fry it…i have a bit of experience with wiring and heat shrink.
the orange backlighting looks fantastic, very well done.
I may go a big off the reservation and use mardi gras colors for my shrink tubing. It would fit well here…
Hadn’t seen this one before - very nice work. The lights look great.