Help my jury rig something

Overall what I want is a bright taillight for my bicycle. There are two main directions I'm considering:
1. stock taillights like the planet bike super flash turbo, and/or
2. making my own red glow-stick

First about the stock taillights: the main problem I have with them is I think they're all relatively directional. I can see the merits of that, but it's not what I want. I want a large total volume of light output, but not piercingly focused. Can I make one of these stock blinkies more diffuse? How? I tried a piece of scotch tape on one already and it wasn't diffuse enough. Is clear nail polish my next step?

The other idea I have is making my own glow-stick. I have a neat little 6 inch diffusing wand that I've successfully attached to an old 2aa fenix light. It makes the wand glow super bright white, and on flashing mode it's downright seizure-inducing. I'm interested in ways to make it glow red (or blue 'cause that looks pretty cool too).

I found there apparently used to be an old "gerber foreman" 2aaa light that had switchable heads for green blue white or red. That sounds like it would be great with my wand but I can't find them anymore.

Or I could try finding colored filter plastic sheets to use over the fenix lens to get my colors. It wouldn't be very efficient but maybe that doesn't matter.

Thoughts and other ideas?

While most cheaper red blinkies are very directional, a diffuser cone is perhaps too far in the opposite direction. Most rear blinkers have focused optics because, watt for watt, most red LEDs are much less efficient than white ones. They're also more often underdriven--how bright do you expect a light that runs for 100 hours off 2 AAA's to be?

I recommend heading on over to the bicycle section of this forum and looking at what kinds of solutions people have found there. I've built several LED taillights myself, and found that "Wide" lenses (such as the Carclo 10196) running with a red/red-orange LED at 500ma easily outshines any "blinkie" and gives a much wider angle. You should have an easy time finding schematics/parts lists there. Here's an example (not my own): http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?336117-Home-made-tail-light-for-my-bicycle

If you're talking about a Gerber RECON, don't do it. Filters over white LEDs are a terrible solution to getting a single color light.

Thanks, I love the idea of making something fancy like that but I know my limitations too well. I'll browse the bicycle section to see if I can find any ideas within my ability range though.

My homemade white glow-stick is about as far as my skills go. I too don't like the idea of simply using a filter over the white LED to get color, but are there any decent colored LED flashlights out there these days? The Quark RGB would be overkill. The H51r is nice but would be hard to attach my glow-stick onto.

I really don't get why all blinkie-makers insist on using 2aaa, but I'll probably go with one of the stock blinkies from the super-bright category that's been cropping up the past few years. So no other tricks for moderate diffusion if I still think the stock blinkies are too focused?

If you want a really high-power red light, consider a P60 drop-in. If you haven't heard of them, in a nutshell its a format of replaceable/interchangeable bulb (I think started by Surefire, used in their 6P and others), with many of the compatibly "hosts" also having interchangeable parts. You can get any color, and many different flavors of white LED that can be switched out among the same host (switch, battery tube, head+lens)
If you look up the manufacturer Solarforce, they are a great budget source for decent hosts, drop-ins, and accessories. Their red drop-in is excellent (I have it), and is brighter AND wider than any "blinkie" (PBSF-T, Cygolite Hotshot) I have. Looking at their site I see they do sell a diffuser cone. The one downside is that you'll probably need to move to 18650 (rechargeable lithium-ion batteries), which will give you a slightly increased entry costs but opens you to a world of high-power, long-running, cheaper lights, relative to 2AA/2AAA lights.
If you want a dedicated bike light, AA or Li-Ion, check out Dinotte and Exposure, they both make higher-end rear lights. There's probably a more complete list in the relevant section of this forum.
For diffusing you could try using a disk/square of acrylic or other clear plastic that's been scuffed up by sandpaper. The parts are easily available at your local crafts store. Just be sure to get something with a bit of thickness for the light to diffuse through (about 1/8"). I've made some diffusers for bare LEDs for a non-bike project for it, its not as good as having a real frosted lens but it does spread the light around (and increases the effective viewing angle for bare emitters).