The Halloween costume edition – tanker car

I know I’ve been promising to post pictures of the costumes I’ve been making, but I’m going to do you one better: I’m going to also post the directions for how to make BOTH costumes (I’d post information on Bunker Hubby’s costume, but all I’m making for him is a cape, so there’s not much to tell).

First off, is:

Bunker Monkey’s costume: TANKER CAR (you know, those tanker railroad cars? The ones that hold oil or milk or whatever? Yeh, one of those).

(NOTE: This costume was born out of necessity. When the kid said he wanted to be a tanker car, I checked online to see if I could buy the costume, or at least get some ideas on how to make one. NOTHING. So, I had to get creative.

Also, you might be aware that tanker cars usually have rounded ends. But seriously, I’m not that talented. So he’s making do with flat ends.

And finally, I made this costume with no additional help, so although another person would make the job easier, it can be done by just one.)

You will need (costs in parentheses):

• 5 pieces of black 22″x28″ poster board ($1.39 each)
• 4 pieces of white poster board ($.79 each)
• 5 2-oz. bottles of glossy black poster paint [or the equivalent in a larger size] ($1.00 each on clearance)
• 2 rolls black duct tape ($2.99 each)
• 1 25-foot roll of 3/8″ x 1/4″ polyethylene tubing ($5.50)
• 1 8-oz. bottle silver poster paint ($2.99)
• 1 craft stick, cut in half langthways and again crossways (so, into 4 pieces)
• 1″ paintbrush
• pencil
• scissors
• measuring tape

TIP: I recommend working on this project on the floor. It will make assembly much easier, as this is a fairly large costume.

Instructions:

Lay the three pieces of poster board side-by-side so their long sides touch. (NOTE: This costume was created for a 5-year old, and would be a good size for a child up to age 8 or 9. If your child is smaller, you will want to adjust it – using only two pieces of poster board, perhaps.) Overlap each piece with the other by about 2 inches. Using the duct tape, tape along each “seam”; when you’re done, you will essentially have a big piece of poster board that measures 22″ x 84″. Flip the board over and tape along each overlapping seam on that side (NOTE: it’s fine if the tape overlaps onto the other side when you do this; everything is getting painted anyway). Here’s what it’ll look like when it’s done:

Measure your child’s torso’s front-to-back and side-to-side; this is so that you can cut a hole in the costume to accomodate his/her body.

Cut a hole in the center of the MIDDLE piece of poster board that is slightly larger than the dimensions of your child’s torso. Then cut a notch in the end of each of the side pieces, that is half the width of (but the same length as) the hole you cut in the center. So, if the hole in the center piece is 10″ wide x 8″ long, each notch should be 5″ wide x 8″ long. It’s better to err on the side of making the holes too small, because you can always enlarge it.

Here’s the poster board with the holes cut out:

You’ll note that the center hole (which is where his legs will come out) is pretty big. That’s because I didn’t measure, but just estimated. At least he’ll have plenty of room to move!

Roll the giant piece of poster board into a tube; tape the seam on the outside, then on the inside (this is where an extra pair of hands would be useful, tho not absolutely necessary):

Now you’ll need to install the polyethylene tube to stabilize the whole thing. Cut off a piece of tube that fits snugly inside the cardboard tube (you can figure out the length by measuring the cardboard tube and calculating it, or just do it the way I did: By fitting the polyethylene inside the cardboard tube and guesstimating). When you’ve cut the tubing to the correct length, fit a piece of craft stick into each end, so that it holds them in place (I discovered that a golf pencil fits perfectly, too). You should now have a plastic tube circle. Fit this circle into the end of the cardboard tube, and tape it into place (this takes a bit of maneuvering to get it fitted in just right, and is one time you’ll wish you had someone to help). Tape, using short pieces (about 4 inches long), all along the tubing, about an inch apart each (remember, you need this sucker to stand up to a night of running around). Put several long pieces of tape along the inside edge to secure the shorter pieces, as shown here:

Repeat this on the other side. There! The hardest part is done!

Now stand the cardboard tube on top of one of the unused pieces of poster board. Trace around the tube, and cut out the circle (don’t worry if it’s not exactly a circle, it’ll be close enough). Use small pieces of tape to secure this end to the tube. I completely covered the edge with tape (short pieces work best) because I wanted this to be very sturdy. TIP: Make sure that you don’t push the end piece into the tube as you do this; if you do, simply slide your fingers under the open edge and pull the end piece back out so it’s resting on top of the opening (it’s easier to tape that way). Repeat with the other end.

Now that you’ve (mostly) finished assembling the car, you need to paint it. You’ll do this in two stages. First, stand the cylinder up on a stable surface (make sure you’ve protected this surface from paint). Use the black glossy paint to paint half the cylinder; when it’s dry, flip it over and paint the other half.

Wheels

While you’re waiting for the tanker to dry, paint the four pieces of white poster board with the silver paint. You might need to use several coats if the silver paint isn’t very opaque. When it’s the color you want, use a large bowl to trace a circle onto each piece of poster board (note: if you’ve used large pieces of poster board, you might be able to trace all your wheels on one or two pieces of board). When dry, cut the circles out.

Final Assembly

When everything is dry, you need to attach the four straps. Create four duct tape straps by cutting out four, 2-feet long pieces of duct tape and four 1-foot long pieces. Put the sticky sides of two (same-sized) peces together, creating two long and two short straps. Stand the cylinder right-way-up (the way it’ll look when your child is wearing it). Immediately in front of the top hole (the one your child’s torso will come out of), place a 4″ piece of tape so it’s paralell with the body of the car. Cut two 4″ slits into each tape rectangle, approximately 1.5″ apart from each other. Make sure the slits are cut crosswise, so that they are perpendicular to the piece of tape, like this:

In this picture the tape and slits are off to the side; I discovered after trying it this way, that it makes the straps too far apart. So I covered those slits with tape and cut the slits immediately in front of and behind the hole, which worked well.

Do the same on the other side, then repeat immediately behind the hole in the box. You will now have four tape rectangles.

Slide the end of one long strap into one slit; pull the end a few inches out of the slit that’s immediately next to it and use a short piece of tape to tape it onto itself. Adjust the length of the strap so it fits your child, and do the same with the other end of the strap. Repeat this process with the other long strap, adjusting it to match the first strap. You should now have two straps your child can wear to hold the car up. Take the shorter straps, and attach them to the longer straps approximately halfway between the top of the car and the top of the strap, forming a harness; repeat on the “back” of the straps, so you have two cross pieces attached to the straps. You might want to do what we’re doing, and wait until your kid is in the costume and ready to trick or treat, before you attach the cross straps. That way you don’t have to worry about the cross straps making it difficult for her/him to get the straps over their head, and you can cut them out of it if need be.

Cut out four 4″ pieces of duct tape; roll them, sticky side up, so they can be used like double-stick tape. Stick them on the backs of the wheels, about 4 from the edge of the wheel. Attach them to the tanker car.

You might want to paint some numbers on the car to make it a little more realistic; we used the silver paint (apply it somewhat thickly, or use multiple coats) and it showed well.

That’s it! Here’s the finished product:

You can’t see the “2006″ the boy had me paint on the side, because I took the picture before I did it (no, I don’t know why 2006). But that’s it – only about 4 hours and $30 later, it’s done!

And now, since this wound up being such a long post, I’ll post my costume in a second blog post. Right after I take a quick break. Phew!