More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
It is something you would have expected the children's TV show Blue Peter to have come up with.
But engineer Dale Dempsey has beaten them to it and built a model of Sheppey's Kingsferry Bridge out of two carrot slicers.
WATCH: Dale's video of how to build a model Kingsferry Bridge
The businessman, who is based in north Norfolk, has been unable to visit his office at Minster on the Island, run by his twin sister Diana, since the coronavirus lockdown. So he has come up with this quirky solution.
He said: "It's one way of having a little bit of Sheppey in Norfolk. I do miss Island life."
Dale, 62, who lived at Keycol Hill, Sittingbourne, for a while, put the model together at the weekend and has now uploaded a video to YouTube of how he made it in three hours.
His next challenge is to add working traffic lights and make the central section lift.
He said: "That might take a bit longer than three hours."
The film shows him cannibalising two Salter vegetable spiralisers with a hacksaw. He said: "I bought them from eBay. They were on offer at £7.50 each. The whole model, including spray paint and some cladding offcuts, cost just £20."
He added: "Since lockdown I have spent all my time at home at Swaffham. I miss my trips to the Island and I always use the old crossing. So now I have built one myself so I can visit Sheppey 'virtually'!"
It now takes pride of place on his pond.
Dale was born in Carlisle but travelled for his job as a materials engineer and ended up working for Kent firm Brett Aggregates around Faversham and Lydd.
He founded a brick colouring company with his sister called Colourite which was used by developers like Wimpey, Persimmon and Barratt Homes to stain bricks. With the onset of the internet, Dale suddenly found his work in demand from places like Canada, Australia and the USA and so moved to Norfolk to set up a factory making DIY brick colouring kits called Dyebrick.
He said: "We still have a unit in Teynham but I needed somewhere where I could live, work and have plenty of space. I couldn't afford that in Kent at the time. However, it always feels like home when I cross the Kingsferry bridge.”
* Have you made a model of a Kent landmark? Email your photos to timesguardian@thekmgroup.co.uk
