When you’re already making a life-size statue of the Alien Queen, you may as well build a Power Loader costume to go with it. That’s Instructable user alexthemoviegeek’s attitude, and I applaud his enthusiasm. He wanted the Power Loader to be made as cheaply as possible and also wanted it to be functional. He spent about $225 on materials, and it was well worth it. Though there are many steps to the build, here’s how he made the stilts:

Two-foot tall stilts need to be very specific. I learned that first-hand. I went to my dad’s garage where he had plenty of spare wood. I made my own design out of whatever pieces I could find. I ended up having to use an air-powered nail gun to secure the pieces of wood together. I could then build up the foam board pieces around the stilts.

The cage was also a challenge. I’d seen other Power Loader costumes that used connected pieces of PVC pipe, but the problem with that was you could tell it was just pieces of PVC pipe, instead of a single piece of welded metal. I decided to used 1″ PVC pipes and 3/4″ connectors, both with an outer diameter of 1.25″, so that they’d have a singular diameter and look like a solid piece. I had to add some small wooden dowel pieces and hot glue to help strengthen the connections.

Yes, it’s awesome. Just look:

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