Kid Planes Halloween Costumes

The boys decided this year they wanted to be planes for Halloween, more specifically Ripslinger and Dusty from the movie planes. After a few internet searches it was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to find something off the shelf that would work. So I gave in and made the decision to make them myself. I did some research (pinteresting) on the best way to make a cardboard plane costume and also looked a number of variations on making planes from other things like garbage cans. Thanks to some quick thinking from my mom she suggested I get concrete footer tubes and start from there.

I was able to find a 4 foot by one foot tube to use so I only needed one for both costumes. The other things I picked up for the actual plane part of the costume were spray paint, duct tape (in three colors), box cutter, yard stick, 2 small buckets from the dollar store, 2 floral decorator foam cones, and a pool noodle.

First the basics, I measured and cut the footer tube. I used a box cutter but I think a small saw may have been faster. The tube itself is lined on the inside and the cardboard was rather thick but the cutter was able to slice through without too much difficulty. I found that once I cut into the tube to rotate the tube was easier than trying to pull the cutter through the lined cardboard.

In addition to the footer tube I also used a car seat box I had in the basement. I cut strips to create the tail of the plane, the tail fin and wings. To secure the cardboard to the tube I used clear super strength all purpose glue and duct tape.

Once the tail was competed it was time to turn to the front of the plane. I used 1/2 of a pool noodle to gap the space between the opening of the tube and the small basket/bucket I got from the dollar store.

I used the same glue/duct tape method to secure the pool noodle, bucket and "nose cone"

The painting process wasn't too bad, I found regular spray paint covered easily in one coat. I choice to paint the "Dusty" plane all white and add orange as a detail later and make the "Ripslinger" plane 2 toned from the start since both colors were rather dark.

To add the decals, racing numbers and other small details, I printed based on a google search for the planes and secured to the still tacky planes with mod-podge and glazed over them to keep them in place. For Dusty I added some blue painters tape for an added detail, not 100% accurate to the plane from the movie but it worked well and hid some of the bleeding that the orange paint had when layered on top of the white.

The propellers turned out to be the hardest part of the project. I used 1 liter soda bottles that i cut apart and painted black/white. I couldn't get them to stay stuck with just duct tape and ended up needing a small nail in the center to hold them in place.

Securing the wings and straps was done with a combination of duct tape and zip ties. The wings were secured by drilling holes in the wings and the body of the plane and using a zip tie to hold them on, this worked a lot better than trying to slice a hole in the tube. The suspenders were duct tape ropes secured by zip ties.

Having not added the faces on to the costume and knowing that Halloween in New England can be chilly I decided to create character sweat suits for the boys to sport under their costumes. Finding the coordinating outfits was a big challenge but I was able to find what I needed from Walmart and Crazy 8. To get the faces and racing decals I used dark color iron on transfers and ironed them on. I also used fabric felt for the checkerboard pattern on ripslinger. From there I outlined the eyes, numbers and names with fabric paint.

Overall The project was a bit more complex than I had thought but worked out well and the kids had a blast at their school party with their costumes.