51-year-old David Reynolds, a dormer oil rig worker, spent 15 years of his life creating a matchstick replica of the Brent Bravo oil platform, from the North Sea.

The 21-foot-long, 12-foot-high wooden model weighs over half a ton and contains more than 4 million matchsticks, each of them polished and glued into place. David started working with matchsticks when his son bought him a matchstick train to build. He completed it in a few weeks, then started working on an oil rig.

He first built a smaller replica of an old platform he worked on for five years, before starting work on the big one. He calls them the Cathedrals of the Sea and spent up to 10 hours a day creating the finest details.

David Reynolds said he thought about destroying his masterpiece because he needed the space in his shed, but his wife convinced him to put it on display at the brickworks museum, in Southhampton. He also added he spent around 1600 British pounds buying matches from a wholesaler, buying them from a corner-shop would have put a 46,000 pound hole in his budget.

David’s matchstick oil platform is a worthy competitor for Patrick Anton’s matchstick Minas Tirith

via Telegraph.co.uk