But step inside his home and it’s another story. The 41-year-old police officer has assembled what is the most impressive Star Wars collection in the country, worth an estimated $500,000, and it’s staggering.

Every corner of his five-bedroom house in Campbelltown is stuffed to the ceilings with collectibles. There are tens of thousands of vintage figurines in storage tubs, life-size Star Wars statues including Han Solo in Carbonite, Darth Vaders, Bobba Fetts.

There’s walls of Storm Trooper helmets, replica film props, he’s even got a life-size podracer in the backyard.

It’s an understatement to say he’s got storage issues — he needs a warehouse.

On the day we meet, he’s just crammed in his latest purchase, an Empire Strikes Back pinball machine released in 1980 by Hankin. It’s worth between $5000 and $7000 and it’s a rare find.

Mick’s chuffed because it’s the first Star Wars pinball machine ever made — most were thrashed in arcades and dumped. It’s also only had one owner: “The guy that had it was 12-years-old when his dad brought it home. It’s sat in that room ever since.”

WHEN you first cast eyes on Mick’s collection, it’s clear he’s obsessed.

There’s barely room to move in parts of his house, pathways are carved between boxes, wall space is covered with boxed figurines. Has his hobby tipped into hoarding? No, he says. Hoarders can’t give things up. They also don’t use spreadsheets, checklists and databases to manage their collection.

“I call it ‘Super Collecting’” he said, adding the real issue for him is space. “Once you finally chase down the missing figures to complete set, your attention focuses on to completing another set and slowly these collectibles consume your entire house.

While he ponders an extension and dreams of opening his own private Star Wars museum, there’s no denying he’ll keep accumulating pieces, especially as he hunts for his holy grail; the Australian Toltoys Vinyl Cape Jawa.

The last one in mint condition sold for about $US30,000 at Dallas Auctions.

“Apparently there’s only five known examples in the world of that carded figure,” he says. “Whenever I find a collection that hasn’t been touched, I hope there might be one in there, a couple of times I’ve found the card back in there but that’s all.

“The funny thing is, once I got that, I’d probably find some other unicorn.”

SERIOUS Star Wars collecting is highly competitive. Buyers and sellers can be ruthless, and gazumping is par for the course.

It takes discipline to stay in the game and every night after his daughter Leia goes to bed, Mick scours auction sites, Facebook marketplaces and ticks off eBay keyword searches looking for his next piece.

He’ll happily board a plane or drive across the country for a good deal.

A fixture in the world of Star Wars fandom, Mick, known as Aussie Vader — he has a custom-made Darth Vader costume featuring the Australian flag — has been hanging around conventions, film premieres and fan events for years. It’s a passionate community and at times, it can be quite political, he says, admitting he was once charged with “conduct unbecoming of an officer” as a member of an Aussie Stormtrooper garrison.

“I remember it was so ludicrous, I wasn’t allowed to dress up at an event and then I was banned for life,” he says. “But it boosted my collecting.

“I sold my collection of Stormtrooper patches and made $12,000 which funded a trip to the US where I met Steve Sansweet.”

A former Wall Street Journal reporter, Sansweet owns the world biggest private Star Wars collection and became a mentor to Mick. And that $12,000 became the basis for Mick’s own collection, which today pays for itself.

While he happily admits he’s a fanatic, Mick says it’s still not about the money.

“Money is like a bonus, most collectors will choose a certain area and focus on that so it’s all about trying to get a completed collection,” he says.

“The problem is, you want to keep enjoying the thrill of the chase, so once you’ve got the whole set then you start looking for variants.

“It’s never ending so even if you do get to the end of finishing a collection, it’s like you want to feel that rush again.”

FOR many years, Mick’s police colleagues had no idea he was dressing up as “Aussie Vader” at fan events on weekends and amassing a private fortune at home. He didn’t hide it, but it wasn’t really a cool hobby when he became a cop in 2002.

“Now it’s become more mainstream, especially with Supernova events. Collecting has become more normal,” he says.

“In the past, I used to have to go to Toys R Us and say, ‘Yeah, I’m buying this for my nephew’.”

The son of Polish migrants, Mick’s fascination with the Star Wars universe began in 1983, when his dad took him to see Return of the Jedi. He began collecting the figures but by high school, sold them off for at a garage sale for $20.

“It’s still one of my biggest regrets.”

It wasn’t until 1996 when they announced the Star Wars Special Editions that his interest came back and during his posting as a young cop in Cootamundra, things ramped up.

“I worked 12 hour shifts, then on my days off I’d start buying all of these vintage Star Wars things from overseas because there were a lot of figures we didn’t get here,” he said.

It was the early days of eBay and his collection quickly grew — every time a flatmate moved out, he would claim their room for his pieces. Eventually he had to buy a house.

“Why Star Wars? I’ve been asked a million times, I really don’t know. As a kid it was a movie I enjoyed … I guess I have good memories of it.

“But it’s a lifestyle now, it’s basically who I am.”