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Brothers Build World's Largest Model Airport
kkleiner writes "Frederik and Gerrit Braun, energetic twin brothers with no shortage of dreams, have just finished construction of the world's largest model airport. With 40,000 lights, 15,000 figurines, 500 cars, 10,000 trees, 50 trains, 1000 wagons, 100 signals, 200 switches, 300 buildings and 40 planes, Knuffingen Airport is both a wonder to behold as well as a technological tour de force. The best part of Knuffingen is that it's alive. Forty planes and 90 vehicles move about autonomously. Located in Hamburg, Germany, the model is based on Hamburg Airport."
Wow. How cool and fun!
In other news German police have arrested two terrorist suspects who are believed to have assisted the terrorist by designing a complete working model of Hamburg Airport. The police claim that this model was to be used to train terrorist for future attacks against the airport.....
From TFA:
The airport, roughly 150 square meters (over 1,600 square feet), is breathtaking to behold. But the Brauns’ masterpiece is even more than an autonomous feast for the eyes: it’s interactive. Visitors can push buttons on the railing surrounding the model airport to induce up to 11 different programmed scenarios. A visitor who pushes the button labeled “Fire incident” will see smoke begin to billow out of a house, and then actual flames. The fire house will sound the alarm and begin flashing its lights. Moments later the fire brigade–3-4 vehicles located randomly about the airport–will turn on their lights and start heading towards the fire. At intersections the fire engines will sound their horns and cars will yield the right of way. Meanwhile the fire grows bigger! After the fire engines converge on the burning house the PC decides whether or not the fire has been successfully put out. If not, another alarm is sounded and additional fire engines (up to 35!) from the neighborhood come to the rescue.
AI programming along with all the complicated physical inputs too. Amazing
There should really be a link to the whole site of the Miniature Wonderland, where the airport is merely integrated as a small part (!). The whole thing is a huge attraction, and I can't even imagine the amount of maintenance it needs. They have created their own control software and direction systems for a few hundred, magnet-driven street vehicles and trains. It's really quite impressive.
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/
Blimps need helium, which we are running out of as well. You can use hydrogen, but the results are a bit too hot to handle.
If you want to see a better video, with some of the behind-the-scenes tech exposed, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQ2pOGwVag&feature=channel_video_title
Check out the Diary, it is in German but most have English transcripts. It has a lot more on when goes on behind the scenes. http://www.youtube.com/user/MiWuLaTV#grid/user/5F525544A3296EEB
With all that work I'm really surprised to see such a lack of taxiway and runway lighting and signage.
All the taxiway and runway lighting is fully operational. Here's the night view.
This isn't just a static display with a little repetitive motion. The planes land, and taxi to the terminal on the taxiways. They position at a gate. The jetways move into position and mate with the plane. Fuel trucks and catering trucks come up to the plane. After a while, the support vehicles move off, and a pushback truck pushes the plane clear of the gate area. The plane then turns, follows the taxiways, gets into the takeoff queue, waits at the threshold, rolls onto the runway, takes off, and disappears through the wall.
The vehicles run on the Faller carsystem, which is used for road vehicles all over Minatur Wunderland. Guidance is via little magnets that follow a metal rail hidden in the table. There are switches at junctions, and the control system is railroad-like. The vehicles are battery powered, and get speed instructions from a central computer, but steering is mechanical, following the track with the magnet.
The planes use the same system when on the ground. When they're in position for takeoff, a rod comes up through the runway and engages a big pocket in the plane. A second rear rod engages a smaller pocket in the rear. Takeoff is driven from equipment under the runway, which can move and tilt the plane. At the end of the room, the plane flies through a row of strips of "sky" painted material and disappears.
Behind the scenes, the planes then are brought down, and return to driving mode. They move around on a hidden lower level and are staged to simulate various flights. There's also automatic charging for all vehicles, which make stops at hidden charging stations as needed.
The airport is only a small part of the whole exhibit, which has a model railroad with 890 trains and 12km of track. There's a staff of 185 people. It's a major tourist attraction.
This might just be the stupidest waste of time I've ever seen in my life, and that's coming from someone who has lived through the Vietnam and Iraq wars. I want to Tour de Force these morons right into a labor camp digging holes for the rest of their lives as they contemplate the meaning of "pointless."
In their first year (2001) they had a revenue of 2 million Euros, 11 Mio. in 2007. Yeah, I wish I had such a pointless hobby.
Fandroids hate facts.
Okay, I forgot to login, so here is the link again: My Picasa Gallery with Pictures from the MiWuLa