The 550-pound Lego USS Intrepid was built and unveiled recently aboard the real, 30,000-plus ton aircraft carrier.

Built during World War II, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Intrepid served with distinction in several conflicts, and performed other duties, before being decomissioned in 1974. After sailing thousands of miles around the world, the massive ship eventually became a sea, air, and space museum in New York.

Now, following all those decades of service, the Intrepid has been reimagined with Legos.

About 250,000 pieces were used to construct the 550-pound model, which is now viewable to the general public in the museum through September 2011. The ship was built by artist Ed Diment, a 39-year-old Lego enthusiast and extraordinary British brick builder. Diment was inspired to build the ship after visiting the Intrepid on vacation from his home in Portsmouth, England. The dimensions are impressive, as this larger than life Lego model is 22 feet long, 4.5 feet tall, and 4.5 feet wide. There are even little planes, artillery guns, and sailor figures onboard for extra realism. An instruction manual, if one were to exist, would probably be as thick as the King James Bible.

Diment has been building with Legos since he was three. (And here I was thinking that I was something special for having a Lego city as a child.)