Right from the start, we tried to develop new technical and visual highlights. At the beginning of 2001, we ran the following headline on our new website:
‘We will present things that have never been done before’
In the meantime, 1.5 million visitors have been able to convince themselves of this. These developments are an important reason for our great success:
The Carsystem: In October 2000, Gerrit Braun said bluntly: ‘Who actually says that only trains should run on model railway layouts?’ From this sentence onwards, he spent day and night developing a technology that would allow cars to drive over the layout under computer control. He developed a complicated computer chip that is installed in every car. The cars drive like they are driven by magic. They signal when turning, switch on their lights automatically at night, stop at traffic lights, are flashed and overtake on the huge highway. However, the real heroes of the Carsystem are the almost 30 fire trucks and emergency vehicles that regularly travel to various small and large operations. When up to 25 vehicles (each with up to 70 lights and flashing blue lights) are on duty, you will see wide eyes and open mouths from which the most frequently asked question of the Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg comes again and again: ‘How does that work?’. But that remains our secret as people all over Germany are trying to copy our system…
Light control: We have already installed over 100,000 lights. They have been painstakingly illuminated with 1mm diodes: Cars, houses, lanterns, trains, signs etc. … These lights can all be controlled individually by the computers. Over 1,500 kilometres of cable had to be laid for this. The in-house developed technology and software now control each light individually. A day in Miniatur Wunderland lasts 15 minutes. It dawns and gradually gets dark. During the twilight phase, the lights switch on one by one. One minute later it is night in Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg and you experience pure romance. For the Las Vegas lighting alone, we have installed 20,000 lights so far and we are far from finished. This has never been done before either…
Buildings: Of course, the largest model railway in the world also features large buildings. Some of them are up to one metre tall and are the landmarks of Miniatur Wunderland. For example, we have modelled the fantastic hotels in Las Vegas. Just like the Hamburg AOL Arena with over 12,000 little figures or the Hamburg Michel, which almost reaches the ceiling.
Details: 60 modellers have 60 ideas every day. The result: pure, authentic life. And it’s not always just beautiful. In Miniatur Wunderland you can find a corpse in the water as well as road accidents. But the beautiful and exciting things have also been portrayed. Sex in all its variations – just like in real life. It is the thousands of small details that bring a permanent smile to the guests’ faces.
Ships and aeroplanes: The latest development is ships travelling in real water. You can find more information in the Scandinavia text. Already developed and soon to be in use: aeroplanes of all sizes that move over a huge airport with our Carsystem technology. They take off and land (simulated) with a loud roar and are handled at the terminal with many moving vehicles. Construction of the large airport has been repeatedly delayed since 2001 due to lack of space, but can now finally begin at the end of this year.
