A MODEL ship maker from Ferndown is celebrating the completion of his latest five year project – a seven-foot-long HMS Campbeltown.

Tony Ansell, of Ford Close, has been making working scale models of warships for more than 20 years, painstakingly constructed from their real-life blueprints.

His latest is based on a Type 22 frigate which entered service with the Royal Navy in 1989, its design influenced by lessons learned in the Falklands War.

“It normally takes me about three years to build a model, but she took five as I had a bit of an accident,” he said.

“I was taking her out of the shed and my sleeve caught on the door handle and stopped me dead, but she carried on.

“It is a very relaxing hobby and very interesting, as you have to read up thoroughly on the ship to make sure it is exactly right.

“And you get a warm glow, after starting off with bits of fibreglass and resin and plastic, when you see it all finished.”

HMS Campbeltown was decommissioned in 2011, and the ship is awaiting disposal.

The 61-year-old former plumber developed his love of model-making when he was six, and a neighbour bought him an Airfix Spitfire.

“I work on the models in my garage at home, that’s my domain,” he said.

“I am a member of the Portsmouth Model Boat Display Team, we travel round doing shows and re-enactments.”

Mr Ansell has gone to great lengths to ensure the accuracy of his models, leading to a rather anxious experience at a Dutch festival of the sea in 2000, when he was followed around after photographing a Russian destroyer.

“It was a rare opportunity, but quite worrying being followed around,” he said.

“My photos were published in Model Boat magazine and I was told they caused a bit of a stir in Whitehall because they were so close-up.”

Mr Ansell’s next project is one of the proposed G3 battlecruisers cancelled by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

Since the ships were never built they were never named, but Mr Ansell has a plan to get round that.

“Traditionally the monarch would’ve granted permission for the name so I am going to write to the Queen with a proposal when the model is finished,” he said.