Australia’s new icebreaker RSV Nuyina has been brought to life in LEGO by Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught.

At 2.8 metres long, the model uses 113,098 LEGO bricks and took a team of three people 237 hours to build.

The inspiration to build the model came to Mr McNaught while he was in Hobart in 2016 and saw RSV Aurora Australis preparing for one of its annual Antarctic resupply voyages.

Mr McNaught learned the ship was nearing the end of its service life and a new replacement icebreaker was under construction.

The new ship, RSV Nuyina, is 160.3 metre-long and will be able to break 1.65 metre-thick ice, and handle hurricane force winds and waves over 14 metres.

She will be the main lifeline to Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations, able to carry up to 1200 tonnes of cargo and 1.9 million litres of fuel.

The Nuyina will also be a central platform for the Australian Antarctic Program research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

She is expected to be in use for 30 years and is due to arrive in Hobart in 2020.

Students from St Virgil’s College in Hobart, Tasmania, and Secret Harbour Primary School near Perth in West Australia won a national competition to name the new $1.9 billion ship RSV Nuyina, meaning “Southern Lights” in palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.

Mr McNaught is a LEGO Certified Professional, one of only 14 in the world and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere.

He uses LEGO bricks to create award-winning sculptures, historical dioramas, architectural and engineering models, and mosaics.

Mr McNaught is well known for creating interactive exhibitions that engage and entertain, often with “Easter eggs” (hidden jokes or secret features) included in the pieces — you might just see an alien in an ice block and some angry penguins on the RSV Nuyina!

The RSV Nuyina LEGO model will tour nationally as part of the Brickman Awesome exhibition.

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