London Tower Bridge

Michael Williams created a complete replica of London's Tower Bridge out of 1.6 million matches. The replica has two household bulbs lighting up the two towers and an illuminated 52 gun galleon underneath. It is lit up with long-life LED bulbs which last for 100,000 hours. He spent 10 painstaking years designing and building a this famous London landmark ... out of matchsticks.

This is one of, if not, the best of matchstick bridge designs. According to the UK newspaper the Daily Mail, December 6, 2007 edition, he spent every evening after work lovingly crafting the 6ft-long structure which twinkles with 156 working lights. But Mr Williams nearly saw his masterpiece go up in smoke when the intricate model began smouldering. "My brother said he saw smoke coming out of it and I looked across, switched it off and decided to rip all the lights out," he said. I've had to plan how to do this properly because I don't want to build something for someone to take it home and it goes up in flames."

Although the model is just a tiny proportion of the real thing, it took two years longer to build. Construction began on the original in 1886 and finished in 1894.

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Another one of these matchstick bridge designs is a scale model (approximately 1:900) of the Sydney Harbor Bridge assembled by Brian Sheehy from Sydney, Australia in 1984-1985. 9,734 matchsticks and split paddlepop sticks were used in its construction which took a period of 6 months and 420 hours to complete. Carpenters and P.V.A wood glue were used in its assembly. In addition, it is sprayed with 2 coats of clear lacquer.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The River Tyne Swing Bridge

Another one of these matchstick bridge designs is this River Tyne Swing Bridge model made by Derek Firth, of North Shields, and comprises 27,250 matchsticks.