A truck driver spent 20 years making a scale model of every building in NYC (smithsonianmag.com)

Truck driver Joe Macken spent more than 20 years building a 1,350-square-foot, 1:2,400-scale model of New York City’s buildings, working from his home and adding hundreds of sections representing roughly one square mile each. The finished model—made from materials like balsa wood, paint, and glue—now has a museum exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, where visitors can use binoculars to inspect specific neighborhoods. The project began in 2004 with a replica of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and later expanded to include parts of New Jersey and Nassau County.