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Posted

Hi

After getting some of the Lone Ranger sets over Christmas I've been inspired to create my own Western town. Most of the buildings will be MODed official sets (either LR or from classic western) but I've a few ideas for MOCs too. This is my first, a Pony Express Relay Station...

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This pic has already appeared in a recent thread about my modern town of Ballabreek (my Western town will be called New Ballabreek and will have been built by settlers from Ballabreek) so here are some more detailed pics.

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The exterior is based on a picture I found online of the real life Ruby Valley Station. There were 2 types of Pony Express relay station... Swing Stations where riders simply swapped horses and Home Stations where they could also swap riders and then rest/eat. My station can fulfil either role.

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The interior is again based on internet photos, this time of exhibits in a Pony Express museum. You can see it contains a fireplace, bunks and other items needed by the Station Keeper and any relief riders staying there.

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The Station Master (here on the left) had to make sure a fresh horse was always ready and that the change over was as fast as possible. Being a station master could be a lonely and dangerous job and many were killed when their stations were attacked by hostile Indians.

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The rider himself carries the mail in shoulder bags - in reality it was carried in a mochila which was a special sort of saddlebag carried on the horss's back. He also carries a bugle to warn stations of his approach and a rifle to defend himself from hostile Indians, bandits or dangerous animals!!

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Thanks for looking. Any comments are always welcome...

Posted

I like the animal's head on the wall. Nice detail! Also the grain at your photos make them look vintage hehe nice! I would suggest you get some 1x1 plates/round plates and add them as texture to the landscape.

Posted

The moustache piece really is one of my favourite new pieces lego has come up with in recent times. This is a great model, thanks for posting it.

Posted

I really like the photo-editing on this. Perfect place for the mustache. Maybe we'll see more western mocs with the lego movie stuff on shelves. Anyways, I like the simple but effective interior to their building.

Posted

Great, a lot of cool stuff happening in this moc! But the photo editing has got to be my favourite, with the first shot looking like from an old newspaper. Btw, what set does the mustache come with?

Posted

Great, a lot of cool stuff happening in this moc! But the photo editing has got to be my favourite, with the first shot looking like from an old newspaper. Btw, what set does the mustache come with?

The LEGO Movie set, Getaway Glider. The cactus in the MOC is also from that set.

Posted (edited)

Great little MOC! I live in Reno, NV, and there's old Pony Express station sites in this area. I plan on building some Old West MOCs myself sometime soon, so I'm always happy to see examples of what others build. And your use of the little horns on the skull makes me think I need to keep my spare cow skull and use it for a bison skull, as you have.

That said, I read up a lot on American West history. I don't suppose it is that important, but the Pony Express riders didn't carry rifles or any other firearms. They relied solely on fresh horses unencumbered by any unnecessary weight to carry them through safely. But the rest of it is great, so keep it up!

Edited by ElCrab

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