Transformers Costume: H1 Hummer

Here is the costume that I made this year. It is a transformers costume. I change from robot mode when I am standing up into an H1 Hummer (vehicle mode) when I lay down on my stomach. This thing took me around 90 hours total though a lot of that time was spend sitting on my couch deep in thought about which cardboard boxes should go where and figuring out how it would all come together as far as mechanics.

There are definitely some things I would do differently if I were to make another costume similar to this in the future. After adding all of the cardboard, wood, and tape the costume ended up weighing around 60 lbs!!! Many areas had to be reinforced with wood and the weight started to add up quickly. I am also 6'10'' so this costume is massive!! I scaled down all of the specifications of an actual H1 Hummer by starting with scaling the length of the vehicle to about a foot longer than I am while laying down. The vehicular appearance turned out better than I expected but I ran into a few mechanical issues along the way. 

Materials:

- Seemingly endless supply of broken down cardboard boxes
- Several rolls of duct tape
- Several rolls of clear packaging tape
- Hot glue
- Craft glue
- 2 cans of yellow spray paint
- 1 can of black spray paint
- 1 can of gray spray paint
- 8 feet of 1/4 inch diameter acrylic tubing
- 2 sandwich sized Zip-Lock bags
- 8 wooden yard sticks from the hardware store for reinforcing the cardboard
- 10 feet of nylon cord

Transformation Step-by-Step:

1) When I am standing up in robot mode, gravity holds all of the pieces in place.
2) When I start to move into vehicle mode, I my hands fall to the ground and gravity causes the hood to fall forward into place.
3) Once down flat on the ground all that is left to transform are the two rear flaps. To cause the rear flaps to fall into place I use my mouth to blow into the clear acrylic tube which fills up the two Zip-Lock bags that have been reinforced with packaging tape. The Zip-Lock bags are located on top of the main joints of the rear flaps and, when inflated, they lift the flaps and cause them to fall into place.

I have posted some photos and a video. The photos came out well but the video is quite dimly lit because it was shot as the sun was going down so everything is not crystal-clear and the video quality is low but you can still appreciate the mechanical aspects of the costume.

Let me know what you think!!! :)