Matchstick Mayflower
Ex-sailor takes 900 hours (and 70,000 matches) to build model 400 years after ship first sailed
IT is 400 years since the Mayflower sailed the Atlantic. For retired sailor David Reynolds it must, at times, have felt like it was taking nearly that long to build his matchstick replica of the ship.
Mr Reynolds, 61, used 70,000 matches to capture every detail of the historic vessel – which sailed with the Pilgrim Fathers to North America in 1620.
His stunning 4ft high and 5ft long model has tiny anchors and rigging blocks along the side, and Mr Reynolds has even carved out the ship’s emblem towards the stern. On the deck is a tiny lifeboat with miniature oars and seats.
The replica, which weighs nearly 16lb and took 900 hours to build over the course of two years, is held together with whipping yarn – usually used in rugs, PVA glue and cord. Mr Reynolds, father of one, began making models out of matches in the merchant navy. ‘Now I’m retired, I decided to rekindle my passion for it,’ he said. ‘I see it as just a hobby that gives me something to do while I watch the news in the evening. My wife Julie says at least it keeps me out of the pub.’
The Mayflower is one of 40 ships he has built over the years that are now crammed in a spare room in his threebedroom house in Southampton. The Mayflower left Plymouth for America with 102 people on board on September 6, 1620. Just over two months later it reached the shores of what is now Massachusetts.
Mr Reynolds’ model is dwarfed by his 21ft replica North Sea oil platform – which broke the record for the world’s biggest matchstick model. It took 15 years and used 4.1million matches.