Ananova:

An Iowa man has built an unbelievably detailed scale model of Harry Potter's Hogwarts school - out of 602,000 matchsticks.

Pat Acton, 55, of Gladbrook, took more than two years to complete the model which features all the turrets, walkways and towers seen in the films.

"I love the books and consider myself a Harry Potter fan," he said.

Pat has spent more than 30 years creating amazing sculptures from wooden sticks. He started because he wanted to take up woodworking but couldn't afford the tools.

After finding a box of wooden kitchen matches at his local store he began to experiment and soon knocked up a church using 500 matchsticks.

He is now working on a stunning scale model of the Minas Tirith fortified city as seen in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Pat, who works as a careers advisor at a local community college, said: "The Minas Tirith model will contain hundreds of city buildings," explains Pat. "It will also be topped with the Tree of Gondor and the White Tower of Etchelion.

"The dimensions on it will be roughly 10 feet long and about nine feet wide. The great tower is seven feet tall."