Sinking the Titanic

It started small, and nearly two decades ago, with a gift of a matchstick kit of a model train.

Then David Reynolds, 51, took on a more ambitious project: a replica of a North Sea oil platform. It took 15 years and more than four million matches to build.

Now Reynolds – a former oil rig worker from Southampton, England – has been awarded a Guinness World Record for his -- pardon the pun -- unmatched efforts with matchsticks.

"It just started as a bit of a hobby, but I guess it got out of hand," Reynolds told the UK’s Daily Mail. "People sit in front of the television for five or six hours a night but I get bored, so I'd just nip off for a few hours here and there to work on it. It's good fun and keeps the grey matter working."

Reynolds gathered used matches from colleagues and got the rest from a wholesaler. He figures if he’d paid full price it would have set him back £46,000 ($76,360) – but he spent just £1,600 ($2,656) or a little more than £100 ($166) per year. Not bad value for a hobby.

His model was so massive it couldn’t even be put together in one piece in his house – he had to split it into 14 sections. (It took two trucks to carry the pieces to England’s Bursledon Brickworks and Industrial Museum, where the 21 ft x 12 ft x 7 ft model has been given a temporary home.) The detailed model includes everything from the housing block for the rig workers to the flotilla of ships moored to the rig.

Reynolds’ model beats the previous Guinness world record that went to a 3.5 million-match replica of the Titanic.

Much to the dismay of his long-suffering wife, he’s already started work on an armada of ships.

"I am absolutely sick to death at the sight of a matchstick but I think there is still more to come, unfortunately," Julie Reynolds told the Mail. "But at least I know where he is and what he's doing, so I'd rather have him there than down the pub."

Photo courtesy Bursledon Brickworks.