OTTAWA -- If there’s one toy that can expand kids' imaginations, its LEGO. The popular bricks have been around for decades and recently, two brothers took their love of building to the skies.

13-year-old Denis Pasieka and his 15-year-old brother Mike wanted to create something original they could submit to LEGO Ideas, a website that encourages builders to create new and exciting models. A select few are chosen by the company to mass-produce.

“This took probably about 20 hours,” says Denis. 

They decided to build a CH-113 Labrador helicopter. However, this aircraft has more meaning to them than you might think.

“We thought about doing something to honour our father's career,” says Denis

Mike adds, “Kind of like a retirement gift.”

Denis and Mike’s father Dan was in the military for 26 years, and 19 of those years were spent as a search and rescue technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft he used was the CH-113 Labrador. 

“He loved what he did,” says Mike. “He loved jumping out of airplanes and going to rescue people.”

“When there was someone in distress or someone needed medical care and they were in an isolated place, I would be the person that the Air Force would send to go render medical care,” says Dan.

Dan is now retired, and his boys thought what better way to honour their father, than with an exact LEGO replica of his helicopter.

Dan says he was “extremely honoured.”

The brothers have been obsessed with LEGO for most of their lives. Building everything from the International Space Station, to the Lunar Lander complete with Neil Armstrong.

But this was a different type of challenge.

“They said, Dad, we built this for you to kind of honour your time in the military,” says Dan. “It just makes your heart bust when your kids can surprise you like that.”

They wanted it as accurate as possible, which is exactly the type thing LEGO looks for in their fan builds. 

“If it gets picked, we get our bio on the back and we get one per cent of all the royalties and 10 free copies,” says Mike. “Plus we get to go to conventions and sign autographs.”

For that to happen though, they need 10,000 supporters on the LEGO Ideas website. It's something these two brothers want not just for themselves, but for their father too.

“It was impressive to see the two of them working together as a team,” says Dan.

Denis adds, “It took a bit of time, but in the end it was all in great fun.”

You can go here to support the Pasieka brothers and their LEGO tribute to their father.