Man Builds Matchstick Models of Every Ship in the Royal Navy Since 1945

Phillip Warren’s hobby for the past 62 years has been building models of warships out of matchsticks. So far, he’s used 650,000 matches to build 400 ship models.


The master modeller, from Brandford, Dorset, has created every ship built in the Royal Navy since 1945, as well as 60 other ships from the US navy and other impressive floating fortresses from 18 other nations. One of the largest ships in his collection is the famous USS Nimitz, the largest aircraft carrier in the world.

Throghout his career as a ship model builder, Phillip Waren created over 400 individual ships, as well as 1,200 airplane models that make his aircraft carriers look more real. The average ship in his collection is made using around 1,500 matchsticks and takes about a month to complete, but for his larger creations he used over 5,000 matchsticks and 200 wooden boxes. These took him about a year to complete. All in all, Phillip Waren used around 650,000 matchsticks, to create his entire fleet.

Article Link and Gallery Link, Via: Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: ModelWarships.com, Via: Neatorama

David Mach's coat hanger and matchstick sculptures

This giant coat hanger sculpture of gorilla (above left), by artist David Mach, has made the news recently with its installation at London's Royal Academy of Arts new Summer Exhibition opening this week. Mach has been making incredible sculptures out of unusual materials for two decades though.


For example, he created a series of Matchheads, from wooden matchsticks, including the bear above, Buddha, a ram, and a gorilla. Also not to miss is his previous coat hanger sculpture of the female form, titled "Hooker." David Mach. Via: Boingboing

Elvis Matchstick Sculpture

Artist David Mach [official website | wikipedia] used 50,000 matchsticks to make this bust of Elvis. LINK, Via: Neatorama

Minas Tirith Matchstick Model

A couple of years ago, Iowa artist Patrick Acton built a model of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School completely out of matchsticks. His latest matchstick project is even bigger. He’s building a model of the fortress Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings trilogy! Acton expects the model to be completed in 2009. Link, Via: Neatorama

Man Builds Full Scale Mercedes F1 From 956,000 Matchsticks

Michael Arndt is a man of matchsticks. Over the course of six years, using 956,000 matchsticks, 1686 tubes of glue, and at least three different varieties of mustache, he built a full-scale replica of a McLaren 4/14 F1 car, at a cost of around 6000 Euros. The giant model takes up Arndt's entire kitchen and probably his social life. It can be broken down into 45 parts for easy transport to various matchstick-builders conventions. LINK