Having puzzled around at a cheap, non 3D printed way to make the Pipboy shell/facade/case I have come to a conclusion:

I have no idea how to begin that part of the project. I have therefor contacted "Momma", or "She who can draw, ink, color, paint, etch, pot-tery, carve, mold, fire, sew, leatherwork and God only knows what else" for a hint at just which direction I need to go to take this project to its real world level. She was intrigued by the idea of building a "wrist mounted computer" ( a first for her but she used to read and draw comics as a child including Fantastic Four so sci-fi is not a problem) and agreed to take a look at the pictures she could find with Google and to hit me up with either suggestions or (hopefully) just agree to help ( 90-10%) make the Pipboy facade by hand. Very likely her son, an avid comic fan, aspiring artist, and Fallout 3 fan will happily help his mom find pictures and explain to her how it works, even potentially showing her the game.

Meantime, back at my house and in my corner of the web, if anyone has any suggestions on how to make the Pipboy facade/shell/exterior that doesn't involve 3D printing let me know

Materials, colors, paints, whatever, just drop a comment below. I need to make this thing rugged enough for real world wearing and playing so I'm open to suggestions.