The aircraft carrier built in a conservatory - - Made from LEGO

Lego has been a family favorite in our house for years - The best loved toy in the world has been used to create some great pieces of art and now a model of the biggest warship in the world...Bloody brilliant !!

The aircraft carrier built in a conservatory: Made from Lego, it weighs more than 500lb, is 23ft long and took 600 hours to build

By Daily Mail Reporter
4th November 2010

Britannia rules the waves once again boasting the the world's biggest aircraft carrier - but this one is made from Lego.

The 23-foot-long, quarter-of-a-ton model is an exact replica of the USS Intrepid and was built by British Lego fan Ed Diment.

The enormous model took a whopping 600 man hours over nine months to complete and weighs a hefty 551 lbs.

It is made from 250,000 separate Lego pieces collected over the last 30 years and even comes with its own planes, life rafts and crew to make it extra-realistic.

The intricate 1:40 scale model is an identical copy of the USS Intrepid as it appeared in 1945, and is estimated to be worth around £15,000 to buy new.

The completed ship is even too big to fit in Mr Diment's house and is currently being stored in neatly-stacked boxes in his garage in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Mr Diment, 38, a management consultant, completed the ship last month, just before Government announced massive cuts to the defence budget.

He said: 'I did wonder for a moment whether they might like to buy it - at this rate we may need it!

'I've been a huge Lego fan since I was two or three, and have been collecting pieces for more than 30 years now.

'In the past I've made the HMS Edinburgh, which was nine or ten feet long, and the HMS Hood, at 20 feet long. But this is the largest ship I've ever attempted.

'It's built on a 1:40 scale, which I chose deliberately so that I could use Lego pieces as the crew to make it look more realistic,' he said.

'I used pictures on the internet and a book called The Anatomy of Ships, which has very detailed drawings and diagrams of the actual ship.

'I then built a skeletal framework out of rainbow colours, which is now hidden away inside the grey exterior of the ship.'

It was a case of all hands on deck as Mr Diment press ganged his wife into helping with the project, while friend Ralph Sabelsberg also lent a hand.

'We have a couple of hundred Lego figures aboard, in their different uniforms, around a hundred life rafts and two whaler boats which would have resupplied the ship,' Mr Diment said.

'There is a working lift to the main deck which moves up and down, the gun turrets move and the radar spins - all radio controlled.

'It's been a huge project and I was very relieved and excited to finally finish it after nine months.'