A Lego-mad fisherman spent three years building the world's biggest model of a US warship - only to find an American rival had beaten him by inches.Jim McDonough painstakingly built a 24ft scale model of the 890ft USS Missouri with thousands of toy bricks in Redford, near Arbroath in Angus.When he embarked on the model in his garage three years ago, his research told him it was going to be the biggest Lego ship in the world. Jim McDonough has painstakingly built a 24ft scale model of 890ft US warship USS Missouri out of thousands of toy bricks in his garage in Redford, near Arbroath, Angus, Scotland But he's been pipped at the post by American enthusiast, Dan Siskind, of Minneapolis, whose creation stands at 25.5ft long The Lego-mad fisherman spent three years building the world's biggest model of a US warship - only to discover he had been beaten to the title by an American rival by just inches He has even built accompanying military transport for the ships. The 51-year-old, has a garage crammed with a flotilla of battleships, aircraft carriers, planes, fishing vessels and landing craft - each one painstakingly built from Lego
The real USS Missouri. The original warship was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, which ended the Second World WarBut it seems his effort was in vain - after he was been pipped at the post by Minneapolis-based enthusiast Dan Siskind, whose creation is 25.5ft long.Mr Siskind used more than one million Lego bricks to recreate the 1:35 scale of the USS Missouri.Mr McDonough prides himself on not gluing them together - which he regards as 'cheating'.The 51-year-old has a garage crammed with a flotilla of Lego battleships, aircraft carriers, planes, fishing vessels and landing craft.His 1:40 scale model of the USS Missouri is moored beside the USS Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbour, and a Japanese carrier with lines of Zero fighters. In Mr McDonough's garage his 1:40 scale model of USS Missouri is moored beside the ill-fated USS Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbour, and a Japanese carrier replete with lines of Zero fighters Mr McDonough and grandaughter Leigha with the USS Missouri (left).
Mr McDonough prides himself on not gluing them together - which he regards as 'cheating' Mr McDonough broke down his first models in order to save space and use bricks on later projects, but he is running out of garage room since the family begged him to keep themHe 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.'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 asked whether his next project, the carrier USS Saratoga, would be built larger in order to compete, he said that would not be in keeping with the scale of his other vessels.The original warship was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, which ended the Second World War.His partner Mandy, 51, said the family have supported his passion, even when sections of the Missouri took over the kitchen in winter. 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'
Mr McDonough said his family are now running out of space and need a bigger house and bigger garage to house it all Historic moment: The original warship was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan in 1945, which ended the Second World War Unfortunately, his efforts were beaten by Mr Siskind's. His Lego ship stands at 25.5ft long, and it took him more than 1 million bricks to complete the projectMr McDonough broke down his first models in order to save space and use bricks on later projects.But he is running out of garage room since the family begged him to keep them.'When Lego was invented I was about four or five and have kept buying it since then,' he said.'But we're running out of space and need a bigger house and bigger garage to house it all.'The last thing you want to do is build that, take a picture and break them down again.' Mr McDonough works on an Arbroath-based dredger and spends much of his cabin time drawing the world he sees around him. The ship, a replica of the 45000 ton Iowa class battleship built by the New York Navy Yard, was painstakingly built over months
The Lego ship pictured mid-construction, with accompanying plans. The ship is still under construction as there is still some work to be done, but is already 25.5ft long Mr Siskind spent months working on the ship - nicknamed the Mo. He said he hopes it will be complete by September Under construction: Mr Siskind said that he had been working ‘30-hour marathon’ sessions to build his version of the USS Missouri Looking inside: Mr Siskin said he believes 'it's the longest ship of any kind built out of Lego in the world' - but admits he 'could be wrong'Largely self-taught, the fisherman has spent years drawing subjects on request from friends and neighbours.'I've got too many hobbies and not enough time to do them all,' he said.Impressed by the size and detail of the recreation - each is built from plans sourced online - the USS Missouri memorial museum in Hawaii has highlighted his model.Mr Siskind told American TV show Beyond the Brick that he had been working ‘30-hour marathon’ sessions to build his version of the USS Missouri.He said: 'As far as i know, it's the longest ship of any kind built out of Lego in the world.
I could be wrong, someone correct me if I am.‘It's built in ten different sections, 30 inches long each. It’s built to travel - this is a museum piece.’Since their introduction in 1978, LEGO minifigures, also known as “minifigs,” have become arguably the most iconic aspect of the popular toys. These anthropomorphized pieces of plastic are a hot collector’s item, and with high demand comes high prices. These are a few of the priciest minifigs on the market today. Photo courtesy eBay user vsrg This exclusive minifig featured a red baseball cap, a printed Red Sox logo on the front, and a LEGO logo on the back. It was given away to kids attending a BoSox game in the summer of 1999. It’s unknown how many were produced for the promotion, nor how many survive today, but when they appear on eBay, they regularly sell to die-hard fans of Beantown baseball. A related Red Sox promotion from the same year was a 1” x 2” Duplo brick with the Red Sox and LEGO logos printed on each side.
Today, this tiny little brick will fetch $100 if it’s in good shape. As one of the biggest genre entertainment conventions in the world, it’s no surprise that LEGO pulls out all the stops for San Diego Comic-Con. In 2012, they offered a series of four superhero minifigs—each with a limited production run of only 1000 pieces—as a special giveaway. The heroes, DC Comics’ Shazam and Bizarro, and Marvel Comics’ Venom and Phoenix, were displayed on specially-marked cards that resembled comic book covers, along with a small brick to help the figure stand. Naturally, you’ll only get top dollar on the resale market if you kept the brick and card. (Buy Phoenix at Amazon.) Photo courtesy LEGO WIkia user Clone gunner commander jedi The enigmatic bounty hunter Boba Fett is one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars universe, and he’s also one of the most popular minifigs. Fett was first seen in LEGO form in 2000 as part of the Slave I playset and has been featured in multiple sets since.
However, the Fett found in 2003’s Cloud City playset is one of the most collectible. The figure was an update to the initial model and is one of the few minifigs with printed designs on the arms and legs. Photo courtesy LEGO Wikia User LEGOGEORGE One of the most fun promotions LEGO has offered has been the “Build-A-Bilbo” event at 2012’s San Diego Comic-Con to tie in with the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. After first stopping by the LEGO booth to pick up a specially-tagged burlap pouch, a piece of minifigure hair, and a map of “ComicCondor,” you then followed the map to other Hobbit-related booths to collect various parts of the figure. If you completed your quest, you’d have ... a Bilbo minifig exactly like the one released later in a Hobbit LEGO set. But, if you kept that burlap sack and the map of ComicCondor, suddenly that everyday minifig is worth a whole lot more. Photo courtesy eBay user replaybricks If you were lucky enough to be in New York City’s Times Square in late May last year, you were able to see a life-sized X-Wing fighter made entirely out of LEGO bricks.
To celebrate, the nearby Toys 'R Us window offered an exclusive Yoda minifig with the purchase of an X-Wing playset. Unlike most Yoda minifigs, this one was limited to only 1000 pieces, and instead of his usual Jedi robes, this diminutive Master is wearing an iconic “I Love New York” shirt. In Yoda-speak it’s “New York I Love.” See Also: 19 Awesome Little Details in Special Edition LEGO Sets In 2011, lucky Comic-Con attendees could win the very first minifig of DC Comics’ Green Lantern. The figure was presented on a card made to look like a copy of the fictional San Diego Brick newspaper, with the headline “Super Heroes Unite!” emblazoned across the top. Obviously if you want to get top dollar for your Green Lantern minifig on eBay now, you’d better have that card. At the same Con, Batman minifigs were also given away on a similar newspaper presentation. Although it wasn’t the first time the Dark Knight had been seen in LEGO form (he’s been a staple character since 2006), it was an updated version of the figure with a more detailed print of his costume.
Photo courtesy Flickr user ftbt To celebrate their new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle playsets, LEGO offered an exclusive “Dark Leonardo” (some call him “Shadow Leo”) minifig at New York’s Comic-Con in 2012. The figure, completely black and gray except for his brown turtle shell and famous blue mask, came with a special NYCC skateboard for surfing through the sewers of the Big Apple. Not many of the approximately 500 Dark Leonardo figures have hit the market just yet, but some have sold for as little as $225, while others have topped out at $350. Meanwhile, in another part of the city, people showed up at Rockefeller Center’s LEGO store dressed as their favorite mutant turtle in order to get their hands on an exclusive minifig—the battle-damaged Kraang. Only 300 Kraang were made, and today they sell pretty regularly for about $100 on eBay. (Buy Kraang at Amazon.) LEGO gave away more superheroic minifigs at last year’s Comic-Con. This time around they had a hooded Green Arrow and black-and-silver Superman modeled after the costume featured in the film Man of Steel.
Both figures came inside a rigid plastic case with a background showing a city in peril, and were limited to only 200 pieces each, making them pretty rare today. Similar to their DC Comics counterparts, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman also got the SDCC exclusive treatment last year. Oddly enough, there are more of these figures out there—325 of each—but they actually sell for a slightly higher price. You can’t underestimate the popularity of your friendly neighborhood wallcrawler. See Also: The Time a Giant LEGO Man Washed Up on Dutch Shores Right photo courtesy of Ebay user Primobricks; left photo courtesy Ebay user DarthLuke13 In 2007 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, everyone’s favorite protocol droid got a bit of an upgrade. LEGO randomly added a gold chrome-plated C-3PO minifig to 10,000 Star Wars playsets. The figures were sealed in opaque white plastic bags, but the smart collector left the bag closed and can now sell the contents for hundreds of dollars on eBay sight unseen.
The Man of Steel made his minifig debut at New York Comic-Con in 2011 alongside additional copies of the Green Lantern and Batman minifigs from that year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Superman was presented with the same newspaper-style cardboard backing as the other two heroes, but there were only 200 figures available. Because Supes was so scarce, he demands a top price today. At 2013’s San Diego Comic-Con, LEGO employees wandered the Con floor and handed out the figures to random passersby. This Azog minifig is exactly the same as the one included in retail Hobbit playsets, but this one is packaged in a plastic container with a cardboard background that features the Comic-Con logo. See Also: 9 Very Rare (and Very Expensive) Video Game Cartridges Between April 30 and May 6, 2001, 300 alien minifigs from the short-lived "Life on Mars" line of LEGO toys were sent into orbit on the International Space Station. After returning to Earth, the figures were framed with a certificate of authenticity and handed out to attendees at a special ceremony held by LEGO and NASA, making them a rare collector’s item today.
After all, not everyone can say they have a minifig that’s been to space. Photo courtesy LEGO Wikia User Coo-Coo Cartoon At LEGO’s exclusive collectors preview party during Toy Fair 2012, the company handed out 125 special edition minifigs of Marvel Comics’ Iron Man and Captain America. Instead of being modeled after the movie characters that were available in superhero playsets, these minifigs were modeled after the then-current comic book versions of the characters. The Captain America figure has black arms and legs similar to the modified costume worn by Bucky Barnes when he took over as the patriotic crime fighter after the original Cap, Steve Rogers, was killed. The defining feature of the Iron Man figure is the normal-sized minifig head with a printed-on helmet. In the playsets, the Iron Man figure has an oversized removable mask so you can see Tony Stark’s snarky smirk underneath. The minifigs came packaged together and most collectors refuse to break up the set.
So if you want to get your hands on one or the other, you’ll usually have to buy them together. A few wise Toy Fair attendees have even included the badge and promotional flyer for the preview party in their auctions, helping to push the final price between $1500 and $2000. In 2010, recognizing how popular their little figures had become, LEGO introduced a set of 16 collectible minifigs, sealed in opaque plastic bags so no one could tell what figure was inside. The new minifigs included a caveman, a ninja, a robot, and a nurse. Since then, new minifig series are released every year. Series 10, released in 2013, featured an exclusive gold chrome plated figure known as Mr. Gold. This top hat and monocle-wearing, jewel-topped cane-carrying figure became the mascot of the series. Limited to only 5000 pieces worldwide, it has since become the single most expensive minifig on the market today. Prices vary wildly, ranging anywhere from $500 to $1100, so it really comes down to how much you need to complete your Series 10 minifig collection and how much you’re willing to spend to do it.