Geoff sets sail with his model labour of love

It took more than 20 years to build and is believed to be the only model Navy vessel of its kind in the country – but Geoff Taylor of Telford has finally unveiled his labour of love.

Mr Taylor started building his model of Type 42 Destroyer HMS?Manchester back in 1989 after he took hundreds of photographs of the ship. It is built from 4-5,000 individual pieces and rests on a makeshift sea made from toilet paper.

The model is 1.5 metres long and six inches wide and weighs 20kg – the actual boat is 141 metres long, 15.2 metres wide and weighs 5,200 tonnes. The father-of-two will give the boat its first public outing tomorrow at the Shropshire Model Show at the RAF Museum Cosford.

But he has admitted his prized ship may not make it to his mantlepiece because his wife Lin, 60, has had to put up with his hobby for more than 20 years.

Mr Taylor said: "The idea came when I was a kid and I used to make them out of cardboard. I started this in the 1980s but it took until now because I took breaks.

"The first thing I did was go down and take photos of that particular vessel so I could build it exactly the way it was on that particular day."

Mr Taylor said the model was made mainly from plastic, polystyrene, brass and other metals.

He said: "The ship was what we call scratch built. It was not out of a box and I had to make the pieces individually. That's why it took so long.

"I painted it with off the shelf paint and finished it with an airbrush. The sea is made from polystyrene with several layers of toilet tissue and some woodwork glue. I know one part is made up of 500 pieces alone."

More than 80 clubs will be exhibiting at the museum tomorrow. Doors open at 10am with last admission at 5pm.

See more pictures in our gallery to your right