The Halloween Costume

Jack is wanting to be Diesel, the character from Thomas and Friends, for Halloween this year.

This broke me a bit since earlier this year , I was able to find a Buzz Lightyear costume for $2 and I thought I was set for life. I was realy happy that we wouldn't have to scramble at the last minute for a costume, or figure out to how make one and with what materials. Now , Jack has his opinion and became the "I want to be Diesel and be an engine for Halloween" kid.

We do have a Thomas the tank Engine costume and when I mentioned that to Jack, he said, that is not Diesel.

So now, I feel like we do have to scramble to figure out a way to make the costume, paint it black, make the face believable, and make it somewhat wearable for Jack to wear at least two hours while we trick or treat.
And here comes the questions - what kind of paint do you use to paint a cardboard box ? Because this train is being made from a box and I think that just drawing on the box and pretending it is Diesel isn't good enough.

I mentioned to my husband today that we have to figure out how to make this costume and I get an "urhg" from him. " We should make this a fun task right? We shouldn't go "urgh" and what?" if our child wanted to a different costume.
I remember my dad making my sister and I some cat tails and cat ears for Halloween once. I never heard an urhg from him and it turned out to be the cutest costume I had. Of all the ones that I had for Halloween, that was the one that stuck the most.
So here's to you Jack, I will make the train for you and will try to make it the best ever.