If you were once a kid like me, then you probably played with little plastic green army men. They were one of my favorite cheap toys from childhood. And if you have kids like me, then you are familiar with the movie Toy Story. My favorite Toy Story character is not Buzz or Woody, but the little green men hopping around yelling 'hutt, hutt, hutt'. When the annual halloween party that my family attends went with a Disney/Pixar theme, I knew I had to BE a toy green army man.
With the right clothes this is actually an easy outfit to make, is inexpensive, very original, and will be a hit at your costume party.
Materials you need:
Jacket - I used an Army BDU from Ebay. Or try an Army Surplus
Pants - Army pants or any cargo pants that have leg pockets
Utility Belt - Another Ebay or Army Surplus purchase
Boots
Helmet
Panty Hose/stockings
Balloon
Toy Gun
Plywood scrap
Screws
Primer - aeresol
Green Paint - About 12 aeresol cans
Step 1: Select Your Green
Next, I purchased several versions of green halloween facepaint to try to match the spray paint. I was not happy with the results and went another direction (pantyhose). More on that in step 5.
Step 2: Prime / Paint Clothes
Prime the jacket, pants, shoes, and utility belt. The primer will make the clothing stiff, but it is the only way to get a consistent green on so many different types of surfaces.
Paint all the items. This will take 2 or 3 (or 4) coats. You will know how much paint you need once you start painting.
Again, the more layers of primer and paint that you apply will stiffen the outfit. But once you start wearing it, it will loosen up.
Step 3: Baseplate/Foot Piece
The baseplate that you stand on is really the one accessory that makes your costume look like a real toy army man.
Freehand draw the shape of the baseplate onto a scrap piece of 1/4" plywood based on an actual toy army man. It is almost 3ft long and 18in wide and looks like a golf green.Cut the shape out with a jigsaw and sand as needed.
Prime and paint. Again, PRIME first so that all the items will be the same shade of green.
I used three short screws and from the bottom of the baseplate screwed through the board and into the sole of ONE boot. I only attached one boot so I could walk around. When I stopped, I could just set my other foot in the proper position.
Tip: You can actually cut the baseplate into two halves and screw each piece to its respective boot. Then you can walk easier (like a set of snow shoes).
Step 4: Prime / Paint Accessories
Any toy gun or rifle will work. I found a black machine gun at a halloween superstore.
I used a utility belt and pouches that I bought from Ebay for under five dollars. An Army Surplus has a lot of different versions to pick from also.
Prime everything first and paint.
Step 5: The Faceless Man
This is where the balloon and panty hose were used. I cut the feet out of a pair of panty hose for use over my hands. I used the ..ummm... 'main' portion of the panty hose to go over my head.
Put the balloon in the 'main' portion of the panty hose and inflate to somewhere near the size of your head. This is the one place I DID NOT use the primer. Since you are going to be wearing panty hose that are spray painted, you need to breath as much as possible.
Hang the balloon and paint the panty hose green. I only used a couple of coats because I didn't want the paint to gum up or stick to the balloon.
Repeat for the 'gloves'.
Step 6: Stand Still
Hang out with all of your favorite Toy Story characters.
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
I decided to use costume makeup on my face/hair, and I just spray painted my hands
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2011/11/reader-halloween-pics-doctor-who-muppets-and-much-more/1
Thanks for posting my picture, Whitney!
Is your outfit really that shiny or is just the flash? If so, how do you get it that shiny? It looks more like the toy that way.
had toneeded to be this, I did it last year and it turned out great everyone loved it! this costume is so cool!(sorry for off topic)
JT
JT
Thanks for the great costume idea -- it won me two costume contests and $10 cash from standing still on a street corner! :)
. . . Uh, not to be picky, but "pany" (as in "pany hose") is spelled with a 'T'. Thought you'd wanna know. :-)
-had about 3 different colors and brands of spray paint.
- took 11 cans to spray everything
-didn't have the paint or time to primer
i actually thought it was going to turn out to be pretty bad... but was actually pretty satisfied with the end result...though i still have green paint on my fingers.
As for the paint colors, we reversed the order some people went in - we chose the face paint first and then found spray paint to match it for the uniform and props. Rust-Oleum's Meadow Green gloss spray paint almost perfectly matched the green grease paint sold at Spirit Halloween stores. Like others have said, expect to use a LOT of spray paint on the clothes.
Also I did the sand plastic army man costume as i had the tan pants and jacket already. I didn't want to use paint on my clothes, also saved me lo$t of cash as paint in Canada isn't cheap $6 a can, then I also used my empty cans and made a bazzoka, it's not in the pics but I will load one.
JT
It is the same size as bristol board and is a $1 it looks like vinyl but it's bristol board on both sides with about 1/4" white foam in the middle, some people use it for sign board for yard sales, or for school projects. etc. wall Mart also has it and sometimes in black ,it will be in the stationary department or ask.
This picture was taken so I could see the flaws I needed to fix before I wear it out. If you look close you can see where I cut the board and the white foam is showing, I just painted the edges and is now not noticeable. Hope this helps.