Incredible Replicas of Industrial Vehicles made from Matchsticks

Who would have thought about creating models of trucks, excavators and other industrial vehicles, from matches? Beside Djordje Balac, of course. He builds incredibly accurate replicas of industrial vehicles with thousand of matchsticks.

Djordje Balac is a young man from Croatia that spends at least a month to create vehicles from matchsticks and glue. His adventure started in general school. His first models were made from pieces of wood that he was cutting by himself, but after that, he realized that he can use something already cut by someone else: matches. The 20-year-old started in 2006, when he was only 13. His models are incredibly realistic. For example, the cabins of his trucks are detachable. He gained a little bit of fame after posting pictures of his work online, and after that he was invited to a lot of related events.

His first model is a Russian truck GAZ 63 A. It took him six months to complete it and he spent 576 boxes of matches and 6 kilograms of glue. He has since then pieced together an impressive collection of wooden industrial vehicles, but he is most proud of his Liebherr LTM 11200 – the world’s largest crane. His replica is made from 175,518 matchsticks, 20 kg of glue and 8 kg of varnish. It’s also fully functional. Balac told reporters he worked on it every day for three months straight, from eight in the morning until midnight.