Tribute to my grandpa and the bush he loved so much

[jonwil]

A few months ago my grandpa passed away (one of those diseases old people get, obviously not going to go into details in a public forum)

At the time I decided that I would build a tribute out of LEGO as a way to remember him. It took a while to actually complete it and even longer to get around to photographing it but I have finally uploaded photos.

My grandpa loved the Australian bush (he used to run a sheep station out near Broken Hill and there is still a family connection to the area even today with my uncle running Boorungie station).

This scene represents the sheep station with a windmill water pump, trough, pig pen and chicken coop. He loved his sheep, he loved his horses and he loved his dogs. The scene depicts all 3 (the lamb is the closest thing LEGO makes to a sheep that is a suitable size for the project). It also depicts a dirt bike (motorbikes were very much a part of life on the station, at least from my memories of it as a kid) and the all-important rain gauge (rain is the lifeblood of the land out that way and they need all they can get). He also loved all things mechanical so I have chosen to depict grandpa working on the water pump with an oilcan in his hand (and a radio for talking back to the homestead to make sure there was a nice cold beer waiting for him when he got back from a hard days work)

Sheering time is always an important time on the station and grandpa was just as much at home in the wool shed as he was out in the paddocks. Here I have re-created a portion of the shearing shed down on the station, complete with shearers, sorting table and wool press.

In the bush, the Flying Doctor is the lifeline to the outside world for any medical emergencies. I have built a re-creation of a Flying Doctor aircraft complete with pilot, doctor and medical equipment (hard to see but it is there packed in behind the doctor):

This is an attempt to re-create the Jeep grandpa used to drive around the station, complete with a dog in the back and some tools as well as his stock whip and some fencing wire as well as the all-important 2-way radio.

This is a replica of a wool truck with bales of wool on the back:

The other thing my grandpa really loved was cricket, he would get so grumpy if anyone got in the way when he was watching it. Since LEGO doesn't produce a cricket bat, I have had to come up with my own way of replicating one. The baseball cap is meant to represent the baggy green hats that the Australian cricketers wear (it should be dark green but LEGO doesn't make a dark green hat)

Apologies that the photos aren't the best quality, I dont have a fancy digital SLR or a fancy light box, just a pair of IKEA coffee tables and a Canon point & shoot.

Oh and if anyone wants me to produce LDD re-creations of any of the parts of this scene, let me know and I will see what I can do.

[lightningtiger]

Wonderful work there 'jonwil', I really like the windmill - now that I would like to an LDD lxf file for sure.

Lovely tribute indeed.....oh, neat little cricket bat too.......Brick On 'jonwil' !

[Paul B Technic]

Wow, you have done a really good job of this :)

[jonwil]

Will see what I can do about an LDD File of the windmill

[jonwil]

http://cncmods.net/files/windmill.lxf is the windmill done in LDD. I couldn't get the angled side plates to line up exactly (correct angle for the lower hinge, correct angle for the upper hinge and correct placement of the octagonal piece but it should be obvious how they fit.

Edited October 10, 2014 by jonwil

[lightningtiger]

Thanks 'jonwil' for the lxf for the windmill, I'll look into making one similar for New Mannum perhaps.