homemade wooden excavator

[Supermario]

a few years ago my brother in law was injured at work and is now on disability and was going insane trying to stay occupied. He loves working with wood and one day decieded to build an excavator. No pictures or 1:1 model in mind, just his own creation.
He built it like it was his job...woke up in the morning and would work on it for 8 hrs a day. Monday to friday. Took about 2 yrs to build. each track pad is individually made of purple heart, i think its a rosewood or mahogany? I cant remember. so many types of wood used. White oak, pine , birds eye maple for the bucket and seat in cab. the tubing used to duplicate hyd hose is actually the outer insulation of typical house wiring. the fan in the engine compartment actually spins if you blow gently on it!! cylinders move in and out and are also made from 3 or 4 different types of wood.
I'll see if i can convince him to make a video and explain all the intracate details.

anyway! enjoy! the track frames are just over 9 inches long to give an idea of size. He went with no pics and followed no scale......just built it.






























i just noticed, i forgot to open the cab door and get a better shot of interior detail

thanks for lookin.

Mario