Lee Zanellato has come a long way from the nomadic and tumultuous life he once led.

The Wareham man builds unbelievably intricate model ships out of found materials. Inside and out, the models are carefully constructed works of art, with the decks inside the ship built with as much detail on the outside — there's even a model ship being built inside one of the models.

Oh, and he does it all straight from his head. No plans, no drawings, just his brain.

"Forty years of collecting this crap to make ships," he said. "I just love the detail. … I'll be walking down the street and see a piece of wood or metal, and something will click."

One of the ships is built out of an 1878 piano and a couple of violins, and he uses other things like antique buttons and rosary beads for his work.

"Unique things, they fascinate me," he notes.

Zanellato said he was inspired to build ships because his father and grandfather both worked for Boston Whaler, which manufactures boats, and was intrigued by the way ships function.

Sailing is "before our time," said Zanellato. "I just love that the wind hits the sails and pushes it across the ocean. No gas, no batteries."

If it weren't for his buddy Marty Szekely bringing him to the Wareham Week office one afternoon, it's likely that this story would not have been written.

As the staff sat typing, editing photos, and keeping ears on the police scanner, Szekely and Zanellato walked in with Szekely leading the way and saying, "I'll do the talking."

"I'm a facilitator," Szekely said later. "I bring people together."

Zanellato is a brilliant guy, but Szekely seemed concerned that his friend would have trouble staying on topic.

"I just moved here three months ago and saw the ships on the steps and said. 'Are you kidding me?'" Szekely said.

The staff sat bewildered as to what exactly was happening, when Szekely pulled up photos of Zanellato's work on his phone and the bewilderment turned to a chorus of surprised and impressed commentary.

While his work is breathtaking, he didn't graduate from art school, or train with a master of model shipbuilding.

He's just a talented guy who's taken a very bumpy path to get to where he is now: A little house by the water where he can build his model ships.

He has worked as an interpreter for the deaf at Brockton District Court — he picked up sign language growing up because one of his brothers was deaf — and with the organization SPAN, which helps people who are fresh out of prison assimilate back into civilian life.

Life hasn't been so peachy for Zanellato.

He ran away from home at age 15, and regrets it to this day.

"Worst mistake I ever made," he says. The family "is having Christmas, and who knows what I'm doing?"

He also spent some time in prison in the 1970s, giving him insight into a prisoner's perspective that he uses to help former inmates in his work with SPAN. He also traveled around quite a bit.

"I was a vagabond in the '70s. I didn't miss a state," he says.

Zanellato says that he "smartened up" in 1986, and his first child was born the following year.  These days, all his old prison and biker tattoos are covered up with a large tattoo that he put on his arm himself.

He also converted to Christianity 16 years ago, which he credits with helping him evolve even more.

"Now I'm somebody who would rather give you a kiss on the cheek than hit you," he says.

His positive energy is contagious, and his smile almost ever-present. It's clear that he's pulled away from the darkness, and with his focus on his art, isn't looking back.

"I had a bad thirty years," he said. "This thirty years, I'm loving it."

More of his work can be found on Facebook.