Logansport man's wooden models are sight to behold

LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) - Shelf after shelf in Merle DeFord's Logansport home hold almost 90 wooden models he's made entirely by hand.

There are trains, semitrailers, motorcycles, antique cars, a tank, cranes, bulldozers and tractors.

The wheels turn, the bucket truck's bucket raises up into the air and the dump trucks dump while the front-end loaders and excavators scoop up and down.

He cut, shaped, sanded and stained every piece from hardwoods all the way down to the steering wheels and gearshifts in the cabs, horns and antennas on vehicle roofs and tiny axes and helmets resting on a firetruck.

"It sounds crazy but I'll come down here and just sit and look at them," he said. "I enjoy it. I done all this myself."

DeFord's been at it for more than 20 years and he has no intention of hitting the brakes on his ever-growing fleet of creations.

He recalled being at a motor home dealership in the early 1990s when he saw a wooden model of a semitrailer on display.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks," DeFord said. "I started and I've been at it ever since."

He's been ordering plans from modeling magazines, cutting the pieces and assembling them in the shop at his home for years.

"I found out real early at this that you don't dare have a temper," he said. "If you break a piece, you just make another one. Throwing it against the wall don't fix it and I found that out real quick."

His role as a punch press operator making small machinery parts at Logansport's former Elco plant prepared him well for the hobby, he said.

How long it takes to finish a project is always the first question he's asked, he said with a laugh. It's also one he's yet to have an answer for.

"I have no idea," he said. "I start in and when I'm done, I'm done. Some days I'll go out in the shop and work three or four hours, the next day I'll work eight hours, I have no idea."

DeFord doesn't stick with one particular subject, as illustrated by the wide variety in his collection. His ideas are sparked by various occasions throughout his life and those he shares it with.

For instance, the inspiration for his wooden school bus, complete with rows of seats inside, came from a friend who drove a bus for a local school corporation.

Pointing to one of the several semitrailers on his shelves, DeFord went on to recall how a truck driver constantly parked a rig across the road from his house several years ago.

"So I ran over there and I measured it all up and that's how it happened," he continued.

An ornate carriage also rests on one of the shelves.

"My wife said, 'Boy, it'd be nice if we had a stagecoach,'" he recalled. "Well that's all she had to say. In the shop I went and that was it."

His models are made from hardwoods like walnut, maple and purple heart.

"They're definitely not toys," he said. "You don't let the kids play with them."

He scoffs at the thought of his handiwork's plastic counterparts.

"The only thing they're nice for is for 3-year-olds who can throw them against the wall," he said. "That's the only thing that's good about them."

Every model was made nearby in the shop on his property equipped with a drill press, table saw, belt sander, workbenches, toolboxes, stereo and mini fridge.

"I dang near live out here," he said. "...I'm out here just about all day."

His constitution requires it, he continued.

"I got to be doing something," he said. "Been that way my whole life. I'm 81 years old and I never slowed down."

The amount of detail in his work is mirrored in the way he maintains his shop.

"I'm a nut on perfection," he said.

Screwdrivers, wrenches, drill bits and other tools all await in designated spots on benches and walls. Handsaws fill a shelf with their cords neatly wrapped. Filing cabinets marked "Patterns" and "Manuals" stand not far from small, labeled drawers filled with bolts, nuts, screws and nails.

This diligence continues as he works, DeFord went on to say.

"Every time I make a mess, every saw cut, everything, I clean it up," he said.

With the exception of a few wheels, he doesn't paint his models, opting instead to stain in order to be able to admire the wood.

DeFord has never sold any but has given some to close friends. He recalled giving a model of a Hummer to a buddy who drives one of the brand's monstrous SUVs.

"I gave him that model of that thing and a big old tear started rolling down his cheeks," he said. "That was all the payment I needed."

DeFord isn't sure what he'll tackle next. Just like his disposition when he's working on a project, he's in no rush to figure it out.

"That's all I got, is time," he said.

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Source (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune, http://bit.ly/1nwJyHG

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Information from: Pharos-Tribune, http://www.pharostribune.com