Angus man fills garage with scale Lego warships

A LEGO-MAD fisherman has filled his garage with stunning replicas of warships made with loving detail from the plastic bricks.

Jim McDonough, from Redford, Angus, is a self-confessed Lego fan and has dedicated years of his life to building masterpieces up to 24ft long.

His most recent creation, a model of battleship the USS Missouri, has taken him three years to complete and is his biggest project to date.

The 1:40 scale replica sits alongside the ill-fated Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbour, and a Japanese carrier complete with lines of Zero fighters.

It boasts incredible detail, with gun turrets, flashing lights and even a motorized crane, and stands 4ft 6 inches high and 3ft wide.

It is so long it even sticks out of his garage door.

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He has also built a 14-ft long Japanese IJN Akizuki destroyer, a 10-ft long Japanese military transport ship, and even a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter jet.

The 51-year-old, who is a fisherman by trade, has made so many Lego sculptures he is now thinking about moving into a bigger house so he can continue to build.

He began playing with the toy aged just five - a hobby which has ballooned into a painstaking obsession.

Jim believed his latest project was going to be the largest Lego-built vessel in the world, but an American has since completed a similar vessel on a larger scale.

He said: “I think the biggest in the world is a few inches longer, but when I started building mine three years ago it was probably the biggest,” he said.

“I don’t use glue and everything can be taken apart.

“If you go to Legoland it’s all glued together, which to me is cheating because anyone can glue stuff together.

“When Lego was invented I was about four or five and have kept buying it since then.

“But we’re running out of space and need a bigger house and bigger garage to house it all.”

Lego bricks, made out of ABS plastic, came into production in 1963.

The toy has been in demand ever since, kept in the public eye by a constant turnover of themed sets and the Lego animated movie last year.

Its adaptability and sturdiness has inspired building projects across the generations.

The Highland village of Cawdor this month built its own bridge out of Lego to show the council how easy it would be.