Ed Diment finishes HMS Hood — in 20-foot-long minifig scale!

Personally, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!

Ed Diment has completed his minfig-scale HMS Hood. Packed with incredible details, this is my favorite of the big ship builds, which have included the USS Harry S. Truman and the Titanic, among others.

The working derrick on the main mast is powered by a 9-volt system:

Here’s a close-up with a minifig, which gives you some sense of the massive scale of this ship:

The highly detailed superstructure is worth a closer look:

Ed built a full complement of boats to go along with Hood:

Even photographing a LEGO creation of this size is a challenge of its own:

Ed was also gracious enough to answer a few of our questions:

The Brothers Brick: How long did it take you to build it?
Ed Diment: 7 months.

TBB: Does the curve stress the bricks?
Ed: No brick stress needed, it is all stepped plate and tile on its side.

TBB: How many bricks did you use?
Ed: Just under 100,000.

TBB: How much did it cost?
Ed: Difficult to say, some of the LEGO goes back 30 years, but if you were to buy all the brick new about $15,000.

TBB: Where do you keep it?
Ed: In sections in my LEGO room. Nowhere in the house is big enough to display it.

TBB: Are you going to keep it together?
Ed: I’ll be keeping it together for at least a couple of years. A couple of museums have expressed an interest, so perhaps longer.

TBB: How much is motorized?
Ed: All four turrets are motorized with power functions for rotation and elevation. I’ll try and get some pictures on YouTube.

Thanks, Ed!

Check out Ed’s HMS Hood photoset on Flickr for 184 pictures — including work-in-progress shots that show how this amazing creation is constructed.

36 comments on “Ed Diment finishes HMS Hood — in 20-foot-long minifig scale!

  1. Mark Kelso

    I’ve enjoyed watching this come together. I can only imagine the investment in parts and time. It’s paid off though, and the completed creation is nothing short of epic.

  2. Gambort

    As an example of large scale building this is fantastic but with the high level of detail it really does stand out from the crowd. For example each of the small boats is a great model on its own.

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  4. James Shields

    I was at Ed’s house when the final bricks were placed on this, and it’s every bit as good as it looks in the photos. The side-on tiles approach gives the hull a beautiful sculpted finish. It’s a stunning achievement and I hope he keeps it intact for a good while. Well done Ed!

  5. Adam

    It’s great that some museums are interested in displaying it. It’d be a shame, after all that time and energy went into making it, for such a cool model to never be appreciated by people in-person.

  6. Mad Physicist

    With all due respect for Malle Hawking, his Harry S. Truman may be built out of a larger number of bricks and have a partial interior, but it is not nearly as accurate a representation of the real ship as Ed’s Hood.

    I’ve been to Ed’s place on several occasions while he was building it and have seen the ship whilst he was building it. Still, this didn’t really prepare me for seeing the model on display at the Great Western Lego Show in Swindon in early October, where it was admired by more than 5000 visitors and about sixty Brickish members, myself included.

    I agree that bringing it out for a show now and then and storing it in parts in between those events would be a shame. A more long-term display would be in order and it’s good to know museums are interested. If he wants my Swordfish to go with it, he can have it ;-)

  7. Jason Bartholme

    Absolutely impressive. I really enjoy scale replicas in LEGO. I would like to start building some larger buildings myself if I can find a good deal on bulk bricks. Keep up the great work!

  8. Exxos

    I always wonder how people end up with enough usable legos. I have been collecting them for the last 24 years myself, my uncle gave me all of his, and whenever a friend’s kids outgrew them they would give them to me. Altogether, I probably have close to a million of them. But I do not have nearly enough of any usable colors and types to pull anything off like this. It boggles the mind.

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  14. Lee

    As an ex R.N. Destroyer man I was real impressed with this amazing model. I hope it fairs better than the original. And Ed, as we say here in Australia “Good-on-yer-mate”.

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