More Matchstick Goodness

Earlier this year, I brought you a man who spent years putting together a matchstick galleon. Here are two more matchstick constructions that are pretty awesome. First up we have Micheal Arndt, a guy who built his own full scale McLaren 4/14 F-1 race car from about 956,000 matchsticks, 1,686 tubes of glue, at a cost of about $8,725 over the course of 6 years. The car can be taken apart into 45 pieces for transport to matchstick builder's conventions.




More pictures of that at the IT Acumens discussion board.

Kudos to Mr. Arndt. But he seems to take his time when compared to Patrick Acton who is building Minas Tirith (the City of Kings from J.R.R.Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) done entirely in matchsticks, Started in 2007 and planned to be completed in 2010. These pictures from MatchStickMarvels.com shows incredible amounts of detail that the artist has put into the model:












Why do I say slow? Because Mr. Acton has used over 3 million matchsticks and produced all of these models as well (take note of how long they each took!):

#          Year          Model  name & description (Number of Matchsticks)

01.         1977        Church, 500

02.         1978        Barn, 5,000

03.         1979        USS Constitution, 8,000

04.         1980        Stagecoach, 2,000

05.         1981        Stern wheel riverboat, 20,000

06.         1982       Windmill, 500

07.         1982       Windmill, 500

08.         1982       Windmill, 500

09.         1982       Windmill, 500

10.         1983       1930's Locomotive, 1,500

11.         1984       Bicycle, 500

12.         1985       Small Civil War Cannon, 1,000

13.         1986       Small USS Iowa Battleship, 7,000

14.         1987       Country School, 500

15.         1987       Country School, 500

16.         1987       Country School, 500

17.         1987       USS Midway aircraft carrier                         16,000 **

18.         1987       Rocking Chair, 100

19.         1987       Rocking Chair, 100

20.         1987       Rocking Chair, 100

21.         1987       Rocking Chair, 100

22.         1987       Rocking Chair, 100

23.         1987       Freightliner  flatbed tractor-trailer, 4,000

24.         1988       Robert E. Lee 19th century steamboat, 50,000

                           

25.       1988       F4U Corsair fighter plane, 14,000

26.       1988       Walt Disney's Pinocchio, 6,000

27.       1988       Cannondale tandem bicycle, 500

28.       1989       F-15 Eagle fighter jet, 15,000

29.       1990       Sculptured Swimmer, 500

30.       1990       B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, 14,000

31.       1991       Small General locomotive, 9,000

32.       1991       Brontosaurus dinosaur, 18,000 

33.       1991       Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria, 27,000 

34.       1992       USS Forrestal aircraft carrier, 55,000

                         

35.       1992       P-51 Mustang fighter plane, 15,000

                         

36.      1992       Star Trek Starship USS Enterprise, 18,000

37.      1992       Gunslinging Cowboy, 18,000 

                         

38.       1993      Block Island Lighthouse, 125,000

                         

39.     1993        Conestoga wagon, 20,000

40.     1993        SR-71 Blackbird, 17,000

41.      1993       The General  Civil War locomotive, 78,000

                         

42.       1993       Parrott Rifle and Limber, 18,000

43.       1994       Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, 18,000

44.       1994      Wright Brother's Flyer, 10,000

45.       1994      American Bald Eagle, 15,000

46.       1994      USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, 40,000

47.      1995      Cutty Sark  clipper ship, 38,000

48.       1996      Terrace Hill - Iowa Governor's mansion, 193,000

49.       1997      Space Shuttle Challenger, 200,000

50.       1998      USS Iowa battleship, 137,000

51.       1999      Crooked House, 300,000

52.       2001      United States Capitol with illuminated interior, 478,000

                         

53.       2001      Winged Angel, 500

54.       2003      Notre Dame of Chartres, 174,00

                       

55.       2003      Old Farmstead Windmill, 500

56.        2003    Winged Angel, 500

57.       2003      Erica's Country School House, 4,000

58.       2004      AH-64A Apache helicopter, 26,000

59.       2004      Harry Potter's Hogwarts, 602,000

                         

60.     2006     Extreme Makeover House, 6,000

61.     2009     JRR Tolkien's Minas Tirith, 420,000

Total Matchsticks                      ________________ _      3,187,000