R2D2 Costume - The Making Of! (Using Dial-Up? Get Comfy...)

[One4yu2c]

A Halloween costume thread in February, you ask? Sure, why not. If I wait until October to transfer this thread from another forum, I may forget. So anyway...

My 8 year old son decided he wanted to be R2D2 last year for Halloween. When I heard the request, I found myself thinking 'No problem, that shouldn't be too difficult to find.' Have you ever tasted a Nike? Neither have I, as I've been lucky enough not to say such thoughts out loud and end up inserting a foot in my mouth. Not only was R2D2 hard to find, it was downright impossible in my searches. There are tons of Star Wars characters out there, but not a single trash can resembling robot. Even EBay was little consolation, as the closest match looked like a pair of pajamas with a pic of of the lovable droid on the chest.

So like any good dad, I smacked the kid upside the head and asked him why he couldn't pick a normal costume like Batman or a football player. Not really. ;) The only option left was to enlist the help of my girlfriend and tell him we were going to make his costume (*cue warning music here*). Let me walk you through the process down to the final result, which I didn't think turned out half bad:

Supply List
1 Cut of Foam (55� x 24�)
1 Styrofoam Board (15/16� x 11 7/8� x 35 7/8�)
4 White Posterboards
3 Styrofoam Vase Inserts
2 Styrofoam Blocks (1 15/16� x 2 7/8� x 11 7/8�)
3 Styrofoam Discs (7 3/8� x 1 3/16�)
4 Pieces of Royal Blue Felt
1 Sewable Zipper
1 Package Party Favors Siren Whistles
4 Presto Sticky Back Felt (9� x 12�)
1 Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil (37 ½ sq feet)
1 Kitchen Wastebasket
1 Glue Gun
2 Glue Stick Packages

Assembly
1) Here is a snapshot of most of the supplies used. Not everything is pictured, as we found ourselves making repeat trips to various stores. Most of these items can be found in either the crafts or floral section of any super store.


2) First thing to do was to tackle the helmet. For this, we separated the lid from a standard kitchen trash can and cut out a portion of the middle. The part that was cut would ultimately serve as the viewing area.




3) Next up we glued (and taped - I know, that's cheating) the center portion back on to retain the circular shape. From there, it was covered with tin foil and ready for decorating. We cut the royal blue felt into the approriate shapes and hot glued them all around. For the peep hole, we cut a rectangular piece of foam, put a hole in the middle, and glued it to the inside of the helmet. On the inside, we used a plastic fireman helmet so it would fit comfortably on his head.








4) For the legs, we bought and used styrofoam most from the floral section. The 'foot' is a vase insert and the leg is simply a large piece of foam that we cut.



5) For the body, we glued a white posterboard to a long piece of foam. On the back of the foam, a zipper was sewed to get the costume on and off. Holes were cut into the sides, though we considered leaving it as-is so it could serve a dual-purpose as a Halloween straight jacket. :P On the posterboard, we used both an online pic of R2D2 as well as a store bought toy to get the design somewhat accurate. The last thing we wanted was for some hardcore Star Wars fan to throw garbage at my son and claim that we're making a mockery of George Lucas' creation. Some more pieces of felt, a bit of tin foil, and a good old permanent marker (first outlined with pencil) helped to accomplish that goal.





6) This brings us to the final result. Some shoulder straps were added to keep it from falling too low. Overall, I was very pleased with how it turned out (looks a little bit better in person as well - more circular). Due to time contraints, it's not the sturdiest or most authentic that we could have done, but he's happy with it. If I have time before Halloween, I'll put 'Live Long and Prosper' on the back and see what kind of backlash I get for not knowing the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars. :P







My local Meijer (Wal-Mart equivalent for you non-midwesterners) held a Star Wars costume contest that year from 11pm-12am. It was a school night for him, but I kept him up and it paid off - the kid took home first prize! What's funny is he was initially hoping to place second, as that person won a video game. For his first prize, he took home the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. He was so geeked about it:

[Captain Crunch]

LOL Thats a nice job Paul not much different then modding a computer? These things move though hu.
Cute kids too.

[gvblake22]

Sweet! Nice job!
Congrats on the win :D

[Capper]

nice, maybe we need to add a section called "Family Mods"

[Tyreal]

Nice costume! Man i would totally want that game over that movie.... if he likes strategy games, then he HAS to try Star Wars Empire at War. Its just awesome.

[Captain Crunch]

Originally Posted by Capper

nice, maybe we need to add a section called "Family Mods"

I don't know about family mods.
But I would love to see a mod section Capper.!!

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by Captain Crunch

I don't know about family mods.
But I would love to see a mod section Capper.!!

I second that. and all the mods posted so far could be moved there for easy find :P

[Capper]

Already done.

[Captain Crunch]

You da Man!!

[sbohdan]

rich, would it be possible to move all the older mods (like my 6200, thermalright sp-97, etc.) to the mod section?

http://hardwarelogic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=289

http://hardwarelogic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46

http://hardwarelogic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=61

if it's too much then it's OK, I just thought this way would be more organized and not all over the place :D