Honey, I shrunk the Flughafen: German builds world’s largest model airport




It took a grand total of six years to build but an incredible new miniature model, called Knuffingen Airport, based on Hamburg’s airport, has finally opened to the public.



It’s on display at Miniatur Wunderland, in Hamburg, and features 40 aircraft that take off and land and 90 vehicles that trundle around the runways automatically.



Making something this small and perfectly formed doesn’t come cheap. It cost 3.5million Euros – but the result is plane-ly amazing.

Size doesn't matter: The opening of the new miniature model Knuffingen Aiport at Miniatur Wunderland

The real airport opened in 1911 and remains the oldest operational airport in the world. When it was first built it covered a mere 45 hectares – it’s now ten times bigger and measures a whopping 2.2sq miles.

The various vehicles and planes on the model version are able to move around thanks to an innovative ‘carsystem’, which manoeuvres the vehicles by computer.



The planes even take off thanks to miniature wires that carry them off the end of the runway.

From up here, the planes look like ants: The aircraft are small, but perfectly formed

The longer you look at it, the more it's obvious why it took so many years to complete

Way to glow: Knuffingen Airport even lights up at night

The attention to detail is astounding. The planes park themselves and passenger walkways slowly move into place.



The tow trucks even feature little flashing orange lights and the petrol tanks can be seen indicating which way they are about to turn. What's more, the airport lights up spectacularly to create an entrancing night scene.

