Miniatur Wunderland, with its small-scale model trains and landscapes, is one of Hamburg's biggest tourist attractions. This month, it unveiled its latest addition: the world's largest miniature airport goes into operation following 6 years of development and construction and an investment of $5 million.
The airport is a reproduction of Hamburg's international airport and includes 40 aircraft that take off and land and 90 vehicles that autonomously move around the runways on May 4, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany.
In what must be the world's most intricate and detailed gadget, the model includes realistically crafted and painted airplanes that appear to be landing and taking off, cars, trucks and buses parking and driving around, and lit-up runways that look almost real.
It's part of the Miniatur Wunderland, an astonishing model and tourist attraction that replicates a variety of landscapes and landmarks around the world, and it’s the world's largest model of its kind.
Construction of the Lilliputian world began in 2000, and before this airport was added, the original model took up 16,146 square feet of space with more than 10,000 train cars running around its 6.8 miles of HO-scale track.
The original construction cost $10 million, and plans are in the works to double the size of the layout by 2014.
