The Lindenbergs

People searching the web for Halloween costumes have stumbled across the blog entry I made about Pierce's Herbie costume a couple of years ago. A very nice woman shot me an email to ask if I could give her any instructions. I like what I came up with so much, I post them here for your reading pleasure (to see the original blog entry, click here and scroll down)

1. Get a Herbie toy (if you don’t already have one), you’ll need it as a reference for when you’re drawing.
2. Get a cardboard box that will be a good fit for your son. You’ll want something that will fit easily over his head and will allow him to walk easily. Don’t worry if the proportions are not exactly “Herbie”, a tall squished one or a long stretched one will still be a hit. Cut the top and bottom flaps off the box.
3. Cut a piece of paper to be the same shape as the long side of the box, this will be Herbie’s profile
   
4. Hopefully you have some artistic flair, because you’ll need to sketch the profile of Herbie onto the piece of paper, filling it all the way to the front, back, side and bottom. Use the Herbie toy for reference. Key things to watch for are the height of the windows and fenders. If you can get those in proportion, the rest will come pretty easily.
5. If you really can’t draw, try scanning the profile of Herbie, then printing it “blown-up” to the scale you need it.
6. Cut your profile drawing of Herbie so that its “Herbie-shaped”, then use the profile to trace the profile on the box. Then flip the drawing over to trace the shape on the other side of the box.

--Progress check—
At this point you should have a box with no top or bottom, with the profile of Herbie traced on both sides. The hood and trunk should extend all the way to the edge of the box. The bottom of the wheels should come down to the bottom of the box and the top of the roof should align with the top of the box. As long as the front and back extend to the edges of the box, you can cut the top or bottom of the box to meet the bottom of the tires and the top of the roof.

1. Cut all 4 corners of the box from the top down to where the car meets the edge of the box. For the front, cut down to the point where the hood meets the edge of the box. For the back, cut till you get to the top of the trunk. Make sure you leave about 4-6 inches of cardboard uncut, so that the box remains intact.
2. The tricky part: with LOTS of packing tape, bend the front slat of cardboard to conform to the shape of the hood and windshield and secure it. I used high-gloss packing tape and it was very hard to paint, so you may want to use packing tape that has a matte, or masking tape type of surface.
3. For the back, bend the cut cardboard piece to the contour of the trunk and back window and secure with tape.
4. Congratulations, the hard part is mostly done.
5. You’ll want to add some interior framing to strengthen the rectangular shape of the box. I used four dowel rods across the interior of the box. Two about where the tire’s axels would be (use wood screws to secure the end of the dowels through the cardboard) and two high so you can secure shoulder straps so that the costume can be “worn”. My two high ones were across the top of the windshield and back window, about 3 inches in.
6. Cardboard absorbs a log of paint, so you’ll want to cover your masterpiece with primer, either spray paint or applied with a brush.
7. Once the primer is applied, draw the details of Herbie on to your masterpiece. You should be well-practiced at drawing the profile, based on the stencil you created (by the way, keep that, Mathew will find all kinds of things to do with it).
8. The front and back of Herbie should be should be drawn on the box (use the Herbie toy as a reference). Make sure that the front and rear fenders are at the same height and width as the profile drawings. Pay special attention to the width and placement of Herbie’s stripe.
9. Paint it -I painted the car white, tires black, hubcaps and fenders silver, and his stripe red and blue. I left the primer uncovered for the windows. I used black paint and a (mostly) steady hand to hand-paint details like door handles, grill work and the license plate (customized to my son’s name) and so on. Magic markers probably would have worked equally well.
10. Suspenders: buy a couple of nylon straps at the fabric store and safety pin/secure them to the upper dowels (I think my wife may have sewn them). You’ll need to do a couple of test fittings to get the height right.

That’s it. I think the costume took me about a week to make (mostly evenings after the kids were in bed). Be aware, the costume is pretty heavy. I think we only lasted about 5-6 houses before I was carrying it and my son was running ahead of me to knock on doors (yelling, “I’m Herbie”). After Halloween I bought 4 replacement lawnmower wheels at Home Depot and secured them over the “painted” tires, so the car could be rolled around. Because it’s cardboard, the car will wear out, but it’s held out pretty well. Mostly the paint takes a beating.

-Eric (Dad)

Labels: Herbie build Halloween costume