The coolest costume. Ever.

This is by far one of the coolest things I have ever made.

Mo-mo is going to be a train engineer for Halloween--complete with a little red wagon made to look like a train.

Materials

• cardboard.  Lots of cardboard
• exacto knife
• sharp scissors
• glue gun
• duct tape
• PVC pipe (I used 1/2 inch)
• PVC pipe cutters
• spray paint- red, black and yellow matte
• empty corn meal can, but almost any can would work

I started out with two large flat pieces of cardboard, both divided in thirds.  I cut out half of the middle portion on each.  I added windows to one piece (see above).  Then I nestled them together like this:

 

I hot-glued and duct-taped the two pieces together.  I even trimmed the windows with duct tape because my exact-o knife skills are not too hot.

Next, I had to figure out a way to get it to mount on the wagon.  That's where the PVC pipe comes in handy.  I cut small X's in the cardboard and fed a PVC pipe through the bottom, so that it would have a way to sit on the wagon.  I reinforced it with duct-tape. 

Cutting PVC pipe is incredibly easy with one of these gizmos.  $10 from Lowe's.  Is it weird that I'm looking forward to using it for future projects?

Next, I reinforced the corners of the window unit with PVC pipe.  Unfortunately, I don't have a very good picture of it.  I simply measured it, cut it, then duct-taped and hot-glued it in place. 

Notice that the roof and front of the train is missing? I used those pieces that I cut out (to make them fit together) and both duct taped and hot glued it all together.

 This is what it looked like before the painting/final touches were put on.  I let Mo-mo give it a spin to make sure it worked.

Then I spray painted it red (two coats letting it dry at least 3 hours between)

I drew and cut out the wheels, spokes, wheel attach-thingies (no idea what they are actually called), a bit larger of a roof, a cattle-guard, and a light for the front.  I then spray painted them along with the corn meal can for a smoke stack (again, two coats), let them dry.  Lastly I hot-glued it all together.

I know it's not going to last forever--I'm not even going to show the finished product to Mo-mo until Halloween.  But I think it will last at least for that evening and she may even get to play with it inside for awhile.

I'll be sure to post photos of her on Halloween!