RAPUNZEL’S tower, an arena seating hundreds of miniature plastic figures and a helicopter are among the impressive Lego models created by enthusiast Robert Clarkson.

The 55-year-old exhibited his work, along with other members of the Northern Brickworks club, at the Northern Modelling Exhibition at EventCity, near the Trafford Centre.

Mr Clarkson, a retired mental health nurse from Breightmet, said: “You can’t deny you get a buzz out of exhibitions when people ask how you built something and why you did it in a certain way.

“It’s great when you get that interest and level of curiosity from people.

“It’s nice to build something people recognise and you get that bit of kudos.”

The hobby started for Mr Clarkson when he was a boy, but he pushed his interest aside due to family commitments until his children had grown up.

His hobby now gives him the chance to travel the country with his creations and allows him to build the window displays at the Lego shop in the Arndale Centre in Manchester.

He said: “Lego is considered a child’s toy but at the exhibition we were very much among adults.

“Some people’s models at the exhibition didn’t change.

“It was good to show how dynamic Lego models can be.”

His hobby takes over a bedroom in the home he shares with wife, Sandra, and son Alexander, aged 22.

And his collection boasts more than 50,000 pieces of Lego, 1,000 figures and 70 horses.

However, there is no time to rest for the Northern Brickworks, a group of adult Lego enthusiasts from the North of England, as they are now preparing for a wild west-themed exhibition at the National Space Centre in Leicester in June.

The ambitious display will include a Native American camp and a ranch.

He said next year his efforts will go into a monorail creation.

Mr Clarkson said he particularly enjoys making the models because it is so different from his career in the NHS, which he did for more than 30 years.

He said: “The beauty of the hobby is that you can move on.”