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In this era, it is not unusual to have a small hobby. Some people like to collect strange small things, and some people like to fight for Lego,
As for the French man Richard Plaud, he likes to build models, but the materials he uses are quite special Match sticks.
(Plaud builds the model with a match stick)
From the age of 8, Plaud loved to build models, and children loved to fantasize. At that time, he thought, how wonderful it would be if he could build the largest model in the world
Of course, this dream didn't come true, but this love lasted until he grew up, affecting his career choice. He is now working in the Work in Bridge and Art Department 。
After all, to some extent, bridging is also a huge model
By 2015, he was more than 30 years old and had the financial resources, experience and knowledge. At this time, he finally decided to fulfill his childhood dream.
He plans to use a matchstick to reproduce a huge Eiffel Tower.
However, if you want to set a world record, you must first check whether someone has done the same thing. This check really has:
In 2009, Lebanese Toufic Daher built an Eiffel Tower 6.53m high with matchsticks.
(Toufic Daher and his Eiffel Tower)
So if Plaud wants to overtake him, he must take at least 6.53 meters.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with drawing design drawings, but the design of the Eiffel Tower is ready, so the first step is Go to the supermarket to buy matches and glue ..
Both are not difficult to buy, but Plaud needs too much, and it is impossible to buy them all at once. In addition, too many matches also have the risk of fire, so we can only buy some of them.
It's just the beginning after buying, and then Saw off the match head Otherwise, the shape is uneven, the force is uneven, and it can not be erected at all.
(Plaud's final work)
Soon, Plaud felt that it was too troublesome to always go to the supermarket and saw the match head, Can you buy a pile of matchsticks directly?
He simply went to Flam'Up, a big match manufacturer in France, and asked if they could sell him "singles" directly.
Unexpectedly, maybe because of the large quantity he wanted, the factory really promised to buy a box of 15kg without a match head, so it can be assembled happily.
This spell is eight years.
Of course, this process is not smooth. The first problem is the bearing capacity:
The Eiffel Tower is made of iron, but Plaud only has wooden sticks, which are not strong enough, so the original design cannot be completely copied,
Fortunately, Plaud is a professional bridge builder, whose physical level is still up to the standard. After a lot of calculations, he designed a method to strengthen the bottom.
(Plenty of details on Plaud's works)
In addition, Plaud doesn't want to let others know that he is doing it, because he only has spare time to build it, so it must not be faster, How embarrassing would it be if someone broke the record before he leaked the news?
Although the probability is very low, it has to be prevented. He had to find a relatively secret place, but it could not be too small, or the matches could not be put down.
After consideration, only his own living room is the most suitable one, but the question comes again: if he wants to build more than six meters, wouldn't he want to pierce the ceiling of his home?
At last, Plaud can only change to "bulk", first assemble parts, and then assemble them after they are completely assembled.
In short, each difficulty has been gradually overcome. In the eight years, Plaud has used it A total of 706900 matches are connected end to end for 33 kilometers,
As for glue, it is no longer possible to measure it with "pipe", about 23 kg
In total, 402 parts, less than 60 kg, will be assembled.
(Assembly of match stick tower)
On December 27 last year, a fateful day - the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the tower, Plaud put the last part together.
After measurement, Tower height 7.2m , successfully surpassing the previous world record.
(The public gathered around Plaud's works)
On that day, Plaud specially found a place high enough to invite many friends and relatives, even strangers on the street to watch it, which means "let everyone feel happy".
At the same time, there were many French media reports on this matter, and Plaud seemed to feel that he was sure of winning.
(Media interview Plaud)
Unexpectedly, the Guinness Book of Records didn't even send someone to come and directly denied him.
Their official reasons are:
Matches must be available (publicly), and the challenger must provide evidence of purchase;
The cutting, dismantling and twisting of match sticks cannot be recognized as match sticks.
Since you can't buy a match stick and can't recognize it, we can't grant you the qualification.
(Guinness's statement to Plaud)
In fact, if you zoom in, you can see the stitching of sticks:
(Close view of the model)
As for the matchstick Must I buy it from the supermarket and scrape off the matches one by one?
Plaud was very angry and said on Facebook:
"Extremely disappointed, disappointed and misunderstood
"Tell me, 706900 sticks stick together, why don't they count as matches?! Are they cut beyond recognition?"
"It must be that English (as I understand it) is very different...."
(Facebook from Plaud)
At present, Plaud has sent all the invoices for the matches purchased before to Guinness for review. It is estimated that the results will not be available until about two weeks later.
During this period, instead of waiting, he took the initiative to contact the organizing committee of the Paris Olympic Games, hoping to show his works during the Olympic Games,
The organizing committee is said to agree with it, but it can't find a place more than 7 meters high at all, so it probably will not be settled.
(The French media reported that Jifan would be a little strange)
It can only be said that the statement of the organizing committee is a bit suspicious, because it is normal to build the stadium to tens of meters high, and there seems no reason to be unable to accommodate his works
therefore It is very likely that this remark is just a reason to prevaricate him
In a series of attacks, perhaps the only one who was a little pleased was Plaud's wife, because they had been interviewed by the French media before the assembly, and the wife half jokingly said:
"He is finally going to succeed, and I can finally get my living room back......"
(Plaud and his works)
I hope Plaud can get a good result after the review Otherwise, this double disillusionment will really hit a bit
ref:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13054275/Dreams-smoke-French-council-worker-spent-eight-years-assembling-700-000-matchsticks-23ft-Eiffel-Tower-Guinness-World-Record-entry-rejected-using-wrong-type-matches.html
