Wesley's Weekly HOW TO: Night Vision Goggles
POSTED BY Wesley Scoggins, 07 May 2008
So you want to stalk your enemies in the dark, striking out of the shadows, your wrath boiling out of the end of a surpressed pistol like a furious cobra, silent, quick, and deadly? Well that's up to you to figure out how to do that (or just check back on Erik's
Ninja Tutorial for some extra tips) , but I can sure help make you LOOK like you can with your very own Night Vision Goggles!
Get a pair of plastic safety goggles, I got these at the hardware store for about 3 dollars.
I got a toliet paper roll again, and I cut it a little under 3 inches.
I got this little keychain flashlight, for a few dollars, also at the hardware store.
I cut a slit in the top of the tube for the flashlight switch.
And I taped it inside of the tube. You might want to make the tube a bit longer, I had to cut another piece of paper ring to glue and tape behind this, because you don't want the tip of the flashlight sticking out of the back like this. Just use your discretion.
Next, get a PVC coupling like this, that you can unscrew, like this...
Next...
Get a plastic sandwich bag like this.
And stretch it over the male part of the coupling.
And color it with a permanent marker of your choice. One of the most popular choices for Night Vision Goggles is green, but you could use whatever color you think looks cool.
Then screw the secondary part of the coupling on to it.
Then just twist it around and cut off all of the excess plastic.
And there you go, you have your green lens.
Glue the first part of the segment directly to the goggles.
Now glue the "lens" section on the end, with more hot glue.
Now, paint it with a layer of black acrylic paint, and your goggles are ready to wear.
Make sure to scratch a couple of slits in the paint so you can see out of the goggles, but small enough so they won't really be noticeable. In the dark, I think these look great on camera, and I might do a video example of them in the dark, check back for that maybe this weekend.
You could easily modify this with some knobs and buttons from the hardware store to make it look like it has more electronics in it, and you could mess with the color to make it look steampunkish by tossing on maybe some brass paint or something, or even easily modify this into some PK-Goggles like from Ghostbusters.
To do a Point-Of-View shot with these goggles, check to see if your Camera has a "Nightvision" or "Low-Light" mode. It should automatically give your footage that grainy green tint, but if your camera doesn't have that function, just turn off some lights, hold a flashlight in front of your camera, and tint your footage green in your editing program.
If you have any extra questions, make sure to post them below!
wesleys weekly,
tutorial,
ninja,
spy,
goggles,
stealth,
special forces,
spec-ops,
night vision
Excellent
i love the coupling idea with the flashlight behind it and the use of those gogles but i do think that if there was something showing more of a taper to that center piece it would look a tad bit more realistic. However for the average moguler here it's a very nice W.W.H.T.
AMAZING AGAIN! Ok it is time to put all your gadgets together and make a movie :)
i think i'd go for green LEDs instead of a flashlight. the'll last you longer, they are less bulky and you can connect several to one batery so you can get the whole "spider's eyes" effect. with different green glowing eyes in different directions. but the safety gogles i would ave never thought of
That is pretty cool. From the side it actually looks like a Dalek's Eye Stalk. For those of you who may not know Daleks are a cybernetic group from the Doctor Who series
Hey Wesley. Since you have been doing a lot of Biohazard stuff lately, can you do a Biohazard suit? Please do one!!!