Printing and Finishing Fallout Power Armor

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.

Stage 3: Dark wash for depth

Apply a diluted dark brown/black wash over the entire surface. Let it settle into all recesses, joint lines, and panel lines. Wipe excess from raised flat surfaces before it dries. This makes panel lines read as actual shadow gaps rather than surface scratches, and it costs about ten minutes of work.

Stage 4: Rust effects

Two centuries in the wasteland means rust, but only in specific locations: water runoff paths from horizontal surfaces, joints where paint has chipped to bare metal, impact damage areas. Don’t rust the whole suit or it reads as a bad paint job, not weathered armor.

• Streaking rust: Apply burnt sienna and dark orange with a thin brush, pulling vertical strokes downward from the rust source. Thin with water for transparency.
• Pooled rust (static deposits): Stipple orange, brown, and yellow-orange with a sponge in concentrated areas around joints and damage sites.
• AK Interactive or Vallejo rust effects products: Ready-made rust effect products that apply as a paste and dry with a realistic rough, granular texture. Optional but excellent for key damage areas.

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.

Stage 3: Dark wash for depth

Apply a diluted dark brown/black wash over the entire surface. Let it settle into all recesses, joint lines, and panel lines. Wipe excess from raised flat surfaces before it dries. This makes panel lines read as actual shadow gaps rather than surface scratches, and it costs about ten minutes of work.

Stage 4: Rust effects

Two centuries in the wasteland means rust, but only in specific locations: water runoff paths from horizontal surfaces, joints where paint has chipped to bare metal, impact damage areas. Don’t rust the whole suit or it reads as a bad paint job, not weathered armor.

• Streaking rust: Apply burnt sienna and dark orange with a thin brush, pulling vertical strokes downward from the rust source. Thin with water for transparency.
• Pooled rust (static deposits): Stipple orange, brown, and yellow-orange with a sponge in concentrated areas around joints and damage sites.
• AK Interactive or Vallejo rust effects products: Ready-made rust effect products that apply as a paste and dry with a realistic rough, granular texture. Optional but excellent for key damage areas.

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.

Stage 1: Base metal coat

Spray your faction’s primary armor color: steel grey, dark olive, or your custom scheme. This is the paint layer that gets destroyed by everything that comes after it.

Stage 2: Salt chipping: battle damage

Salt chipping creates realistic paint chips that expose bare metal underneath.

1. Spray the base color and let it cure.
2. Apply a thin coat of hairspray over the base.
3. While still slightly tacky, sprinkle table salt or coarse sea salt in irregular patterns. Concentrate salt on edges, high-contact areas, and anywhere a weapon strike or hard impact would land.
4. Spray your faction’s primary color over the salt.
5. Once fully cured, scrub with a damp cloth or stiff brush. The salt dissolves and lifts the top paint layer, revealing the metal base beneath. The chips look randomized and natural because they are.

Stage 3: Dark wash for depth

Apply a diluted dark brown/black wash over the entire surface. Let it settle into all recesses, joint lines, and panel lines. Wipe excess from raised flat surfaces before it dries. This makes panel lines read as actual shadow gaps rather than surface scratches, and it costs about ten minutes of work.

Stage 4: Rust effects

Two centuries in the wasteland means rust, but only in specific locations: water runoff paths from horizontal surfaces, joints where paint has chipped to bare metal, impact damage areas. Don’t rust the whole suit or it reads as a bad paint job, not weathered armor.

• Streaking rust: Apply burnt sienna and dark orange with a thin brush, pulling vertical strokes downward from the rust source. Thin with water for transparency.
• Pooled rust (static deposits): Stipple orange, brown, and yellow-orange with a sponge in concentrated areas around joints and damage sites.
• AK Interactive or Vallejo rust effects products: Ready-made rust effect products that apply as a paste and dry with a realistic rough, granular texture. Optional but excellent for key damage areas.

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.

Stage 1: Base metal coat

Spray your faction’s primary armor color: steel grey, dark olive, or your custom scheme. This is the paint layer that gets destroyed by everything that comes after it.

Stage 2: Salt chipping: battle damage

Salt chipping creates realistic paint chips that expose bare metal underneath.

1. Spray the base color and let it cure.
2. Apply a thin coat of hairspray over the base.
3. While still slightly tacky, sprinkle table salt or coarse sea salt in irregular patterns. Concentrate salt on edges, high-contact areas, and anywhere a weapon strike or hard impact would land.
4. Spray your faction’s primary color over the salt.
5. Once fully cured, scrub with a damp cloth or stiff brush. The salt dissolves and lifts the top paint layer, revealing the metal base beneath. The chips look randomized and natural because they are.

Stage 3: Dark wash for depth

Apply a diluted dark brown/black wash over the entire surface. Let it settle into all recesses, joint lines, and panel lines. Wipe excess from raised flat surfaces before it dries. This makes panel lines read as actual shadow gaps rather than surface scratches, and it costs about ten minutes of work.

Stage 4: Rust effects

Two centuries in the wasteland means rust, but only in specific locations: water runoff paths from horizontal surfaces, joints where paint has chipped to bare metal, impact damage areas. Don’t rust the whole suit or it reads as a bad paint job, not weathered armor.

• Streaking rust: Apply burnt sienna and dark orange with a thin brush, pulling vertical strokes downward from the rust source. Thin with water for transparency.
• Pooled rust (static deposits): Stipple orange, brown, and yellow-orange with a sponge in concentrated areas around joints and damage sites.
• AK Interactive or Vallejo rust effects products: Ready-made rust effect products that apply as a paste and dry with a realistic rough, granular texture. Optional but excellent for key damage areas.

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.

Fallout power armor is supposed to look like it’s been through a nuclear war. Unlike Stormtrooper or Clone trooper armor where a perfect surface is the goal, power armor earns its look from two centuries of use, bad repairs, and total neglect. This is the most fun finishing pipeline in any armor build. You get to destroy things on purpose.

Print Settings

Every structural and wearable piece is FDM. Power armor at wearable scale is too large and too weight-critical for resin. Save resin for the smallest non-wearable accessories: a miniature Pip-Boy prop, small faction emblems, tiny decorative hardware.

• Material: PLA+ for most pieces. The weathering pipeline sands and paints aggressively, and PLA+ handles both well.
• Layer height: 0.2mm is fine. Surface texture actually helps some weathering techniques adhere. Use 0.15mm only if you’re doing very clean Brotherhood or Institute armor builds.
• Wall count: 5 perimeters. Power armor pieces are large and transport stress is significant.
• Infill: 20% for most; 25% for the helmet and torso.

Surface Prep

1. Remove supports and clean seams.
2. Join split pieces with super glue + activator or epoxy. Fill seams with spot putty.
3. Sand to 220. You don’t need to go finer than this for a weathered build.
4. Apply grey filler primer. This is your inspection layer. Under primer, any remaining surface problems become obvious. Fix them now before paint goes on.

The Nuclear Weathering Pipeline

Stage 1: Base metal coat

Spray your faction’s primary armor color: steel grey, dark olive, or your custom scheme. This is the paint layer that gets destroyed by everything that comes after it.

Stage 2: Salt chipping: battle damage

Salt chipping creates realistic paint chips that expose bare metal underneath.

1. Spray the base color and let it cure.
2. Apply a thin coat of hairspray over the base.
3. While still slightly tacky, sprinkle table salt or coarse sea salt in irregular patterns. Concentrate salt on edges, high-contact areas, and anywhere a weapon strike or hard impact would land.
4. Spray your faction’s primary color over the salt.
5. Once fully cured, scrub with a damp cloth or stiff brush. The salt dissolves and lifts the top paint layer, revealing the metal base beneath. The chips look randomized and natural because they are.

Stage 3: Dark wash for depth

Apply a diluted dark brown/black wash over the entire surface. Let it settle into all recesses, joint lines, and panel lines. Wipe excess from raised flat surfaces before it dries. This makes panel lines read as actual shadow gaps rather than surface scratches, and it costs about ten minutes of work.

Stage 4: Rust effects

Two centuries in the wasteland means rust, but only in specific locations: water runoff paths from horizontal surfaces, joints where paint has chipped to bare metal, impact damage areas. Don’t rust the whole suit or it reads as a bad paint job, not weathered armor.

• Streaking rust: Apply burnt sienna and dark orange with a thin brush, pulling vertical strokes downward from the rust source. Thin with water for transparency.
• Pooled rust (static deposits): Stipple orange, brown, and yellow-orange with a sponge in concentrated areas around joints and damage sites.
• AK Interactive or Vallejo rust effects products: Ready-made rust effect products that apply as a paste and dry with a realistic rough, granular texture. Optional but excellent for key damage areas.

Stage 5: Nuclear grime and dirt

Power armor in the wasteland accumulates dust, ash, and grime at ground level. Apply a thin dirty-brown wash (raw umber with a touch of black) across the lower surfaces of every piece: legs, lower torso, knee plates. This simulates contamination picked up walking through fallout zones. Keep it on the bottom half. Grime runs down, not up.

Stage 6: Topcoat

Flat/matte topcoat only. Gloss reads as new and maintained. Wasteland power armor is neither. A flat coat also locks the rust and grime layers in place without fighting them visually.

Armor finished. Time to climb in. Continue to Part 5: Assembly.