SUTHERLAND Shire's matchstick man Norm Grundy has completed his latest project — a scale model of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney.
The retired carpenter from Miranda, 78, built the intricate scale model using 89,813 matches. It took 1891 hours to complete and is his biggest work.
He started building the model in March 2013 and finished on August 31.
He used original architectural drawings to build the model to a scale of 15 millimetres to one metre. He got permission to go on the roof of surrounding buildings to take more than 100 photos of the cathedral.
The project is his latest scale model of Sydney landmarks. His Sydney Harbour Bridge model took 1000 hours to build and used 75,000 matchsticks, while his model of Sydney Town Hall used 80,000 matches and took 1100 hours to complete.
His Sydney Opera House model used 50,000 matches and took 1100 hours to build, while his model of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney took 1700 hours and used 75,000 matchsticks.
All were recently exhibited at Sydney Town Hall for Heritage Week but he considers St Andrew's his towering achievement.
"This is the biggest project I have done," Mr Grundy said. "It is the hardest one because there is so much detail in the towers.
"I've also included a lot of the external areas, including the chapter house, the office and the library."
Mr Grundy is unsure what his next project will be. "I like concentrating on the iconic buildings in the city," he said.
"Someone suggested Central railway station. I don't want to do Queen Victoria Building because it is too big."
Have you seen any of Mr Grundy's work?