Container ship that's been two years in the making

After two years of designing and building, Tom Groombridge's model of a Maersk container ship is finally complete and will be shown for the first time at GWLS. The model is based on official set 10155 Maersk Line Container Ship but this one is over 3 metres long and contains over 25,000 pieces!

Tom used the Lego Digital Designer to design the ship, which he wanted to build to 'minifig scale'. After researching real container ships he realised that it would need to be about 400 studs long. He started with three 10155 sets and any parts that he didn't already have, he ordered from Bricklink, the unofficial LEGO marketplace, and has had parts arrive from all over the world.

"It took me nearly a year to just design how the ship was going to look. I knew that it was going to be a big job as the design used over 10,000 parts." said Tom. When he started building it he hit a major problem. "Basically, it kept falling apart! I realised that it was going to need a lot more pieces to make it strong enough to move and take to exhibitions. It's taken a lot longer and used loads more parts than I first thought it would."

This is an ongoing project for Tom as he plans to built a working Harbour for his ship to dock at. He is hoping to have working cranes to load and unload the containers. We look forward to seeing that at a future GWLS show!