To make this costume, you need:
Thrifted, found or borrowed:
– a gray or beige trench coat
– a blue necktie
– a white collared shirt
– blue pants (I wore jeans)
– mens’ dress shoes (it looks properly cartoonish if they are a bit too big)
– brown gloves (I wore my work gloves)
Thrifted:
(These will get destroyed, so don’t borrow them)
– a classic fedora (~$3-$8) (If you can’t thrift it, get a cheap foam one from a costume shop.) Brown, gray or beige will look gadget-astic.
– a 1980s-era battery operated shoe polisher with detachable heads (~$3)
(check on ebay if you can’t thrift it – get one like this)
– two old bike grips (see if a local bike shop has some they don’t want)
From the hardware store:
– two 3′ long, 1/2″ diameter aluminum tubes (~$8 each)
– glossy orange spray paint (~$5-7)
– white universal primer spray paint (~$5-7)
– a tiny amount of gray or silver universal spray paint (optional)
– three wooden paint stir sticks
– a screw (I used a random drywall screw I had around)
– a small electrical flip switch ($3)
– 8 feet of relatively thin, flexible copper insulated electrical wire (~$2)
– a roll of electrical tape ($1)
From the recycling bin:
– a cardboard box about 16″ long
– an empty cereal box
– two empty plastic 500-yard thread spools
– three empty jars or oatmeal tins with lids
– a wire twist tie
From a craft store or your stash:
– around a 20″x20″ piece of black faux fur ($1)
– a small sheet of sticky-back felt ($.50)
– a bunch of hot glue sticks
– a tube of strong glue (like e6000)
– four AA batteries (for the shoe polisher)
Tools:
– needle-nose pliers/wire cutters
– a tiny phillips-head screwdriver (you can find it at a hobby shop)
– a regular-sized screwdriver
– a hot glue gun
– a dremel tool
– Structured Tooth Tungsten Carbide Cutter attachment for dremel (cone or taper)
– cutting attachment for dremel that will cut aluminum and plastic
– drill bit attachment the size for your screw for the dremel (or just a separate drill)
– a vise or vise grips
– a sturdy table or workbench
– a piece of scrap wood of some kind, at least a foot long (I used a mini ironing board…)
– an x-acto knife
– a utility knife
– a ruler
– sewing pins
– helpful: a smartphone and an angle-measuring app
Safety:
– a spray paint mask (this is under $20 and really important for your health)
– safety glasses
This took around 8-12 hours over the course of a week to fully construct. I’d set aside several evenings to work on this costume.
