A GIGANTIC Mecanno model of Teesside’s Newport Bridge, which took an enthusiast a year of painstaking work to construct, is about to be dismantled.

Joe Etheridge, 69, said supply had outstripped demand on his latest project - a bucket wheel excavator - and he needed the parts to complete it.

He said: “The Newport Bridge model has been together for a year. I was going to keep it a bit longer but need the parts for my latest project.

“The idea with Mecanno is that once you have built something you recycle the parts and build something else.”

The Newport Bridge Model, comprising thousands of part and including five motors, was built in a small study at Mr Etheridge’s home in Peterlee, County Durham.

It won fifth prize in an international competition in Skegness and has scooped a number of other prizes.

The 50/1 scale model is 9ft long and 4ft high with a lifting span of 5ft and has five motors driving the road barriers and lifts.

The retired engineer has been making Mecanno models since the age of three.

He is honorary president of the North-East Mecanno Society and was recently awarded the Golden Spanner Award – the highest accolade given by the International Mecanno Society.

Mr Etheridge is now constructing a bucket wheel excavator used on the oil sands of Alberta, Canada. It will have eight sets of caterpillar tracks and 11 motors driving it. It will take a several more months to complete.

There will be one last chance to see the bridge at the Bowburn Toy and Train Collectors’ Fair at the Bowburn Community Centre, Durham Road, Bowburn, County Durham, from 10am to 2.30pm on Sunday December 16.

Admission is £1.30 (conc £1.10 and family ticket £4).