Thomas the Train Costume...Again, from Last Year

Here we go getting a tutorial written up for the Thomas Costume from last year! This was a fun little project, though by the end I wasn't having much fun, and sloppily finished it. I was totally sick by that point, so the finished project wasn't quite as polished as my normal, non-pregnant hormoned mind would stand for.

It was still pretty easy, and CHEAP! Here are the supplies you'll need:

-Box big enough to fit your little conductor into

-scissors/knife

-Paints (I used acryllic) Blue (I mixed Royal blue and white until I got the right "Thomas Blue"), Red, and Black

-Black paper

-One large paper plate

-6 smaller paper plates

-masking or painter's tape

-Black Sharpie

-2 empty toilet paper rolls

-1 inch thick elastic - about a yard, or suspenders

Step 1: First, find a box. Got a good one? Great...now cut off the bottom flaps, and securely tape the top side flaps in place. The picture show scissors, but a knife may be more useful.

Step 2. Using your knife, cut along where the red dotted lines are. You may want to trace it out first. For the front, trace around your bigger paper plate as pictured below for Thomas' head. If your box is flimsy, you may want to use some of your scrap cardboard to reinforce the newly cut sides from the inside, to thicken it up.

Step 3. Now use either your masking tape or painter's tape to seal off the cut edges. You will paint over these so that the edges looke more finished than that cut cardboard look. I'm pretty sure I skipped the round part though...yep, just checked, I did.

Step 4.

Paint the box according to the guide below. Blue on the outsides, except for the top and Thomas' head. Black on the inside.

Step 5. Now paint all the extras, starting with the red lines. Mask off a square wuth the line being about an inch or so thick, and paint it red. Use your plate as a guide for painting the red half-circle on the front. I wish I woudl have done that...mine was a little sloppy.

You can use the picture below for your number 1. Save it to your pictures, then print it out as (2) 8x10's. Cut the 1 out, and glue it in the middle of the square on each side.

Tape off and paint a red line in front for your bemper. Then cut out 2 circles (use a glass to trace) from black paper, and glue in designated areas.

Step 6. Using scrap cardboard, cut out and paint the funnel as pictured below. Fasten it to the top of Thomas' head area with glue.

Step 7. Thomas' face. Paint the backside of your big paper plate grey. Then you've got a couple of options. I just copied his face from a picture, and drew it on with a Sharpie, and painted the eyes white, then drew on the pupils and irises of the eyes. But you could also print out a picture of his face, cut it, and glue it to the plate.

Step 7. Carve a slot into a toilet paper roll as pictured. Paint it gold. You can either do the 2nd one exactly like the first, or you can elevate teh 2nd one on a gold popsicle stick kind of like Thomas has. Your choice.

Step 8. Paint all 6 smaller plates blue on both sides. These are your wheels. Once dry, Use Sharpie to draw designs on wheels as pictured below. This was another thing I did sloppy. Sad.

Step 9. Attach suspenders (or elastic, which is what I used) to each side of the head, where it meets the base in the front, and up to the top, about 6 inches apart. Look at the bottom picture for a guide.I used hot glue, but you could easily use a stapler.

Step 10. This costume will be very back heavy, so I put some rocks in a little baggie and glued it to the front, behind Thomas' head. You could sew a little black baggie, so it blends with the inside, and put a paper weight in there or something.

After that, You're Done!!! Now all you need is a little conducter's hat, and a bandana around the neck, and you're good to go!