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.
