You have to see this!

[autofocus]

A fully functioning model airport in Hamburg, Germany, at a cost of 3.5 million Euro!! Watch the video at the end to see it running..amazing!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1383532/Knuffingen-Airport-German-builds-worlds-largest-model-airport.html

[Saralonde]

Wow, definitely goes beyond the average miniature train exhibit.

[sk66]

Pretty cool.

But I just have to ask "why?" That's a whole lot of money/time/ongoing expense for a "model".

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by sk66

Pretty cool.

But I just have to ask "why?" That's a whole lot of money/time/ongoing expense for a "model".

Agree Steve, when you have nothing better to do with 3.5 million Euro...seems crazy, but the end result is still nothing short of amazing

[Doug Sundseth]

I'm sure they make money from admissions fees. Whether it's enough to cover expenses? Who knows.

If you look at, say, the Madurodam in The Hague, though, it's clear that you can make money from showing off models. It's been open since the '50s, IIRC, and I'd be willing to bet quite a lot that they've put rather more than 3.5M Euros into it in that time.

[NathanFranke]

Originally Posted by autofocus

Agree Steve, when you have nothing better to do with 3.5 million Euro...

I wonder how Greece, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal feel about that. Granted, it was probably private money, and people ought to be able to spend their own money on whatever they want. But I guarantee this ruffled some feathers.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by NathanFranke

I wonder how Greece, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal feel about that. Granted, it was probably private money, and people ought to be able to spend their own money on whatever they want. But I guarantee this ruffled some feathers.

Good question Nathan. I had heard that of the European economies, Germany is still doing quite well. I suppose it's no different than the money we see squandered on ridiculous projects here in the US..like the proposed 3.4 mil dollar highway underpass for turtles to cross
FloridaEnvironments.com: Wildlife underpass skewered; Founder fires back
Now don't get me wrong folks, I love turtles just as much as the next guy, but $3.4 million dollars can feed a whole bunch of people

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by NathanFranke

I wonder how Greece, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal feel about that. Granted, it was probably private money, and people ought to be able to spend their own money on whatever they want. But I guarantee this ruffled some feathers.

LoL.. Germany has been propping up the Greek and other poor economies for a few years now.. They've just bailed them out for a SECOND time. Let's put it this way.. The Germans have a retirement age of 67, the Greeks and Italians, 57, If the Greeks and Italians have anything to say, the simple response will be "you get what you work for."

The European UNION isn't quite as united as you might think!

[NathanFranke]

Originally Posted by autofocus

like the proposed 3.4 mil dollar highway underpass for turtles to cross
FloridaEnvironments.com: Wildlife underpass skewered; Founder fires back
Now don't get me wrong folks, I love turtles just as much as the next guy, but $3.4 million dollars can feed a whole bunch of people

The problem with that is that it's tax money. If Al Gore used some of his speaking fees for that, I'd have no problem with it. Fools and their money and whatnot. But using my hard-earned tax dollars for a turtle crossing? I'd sooner use that money to pay off our $14,000,000,000,000 debt.

[Tito87]

If you think 3.5 million is too much, look here:
Wunderland in 4 minutes - model building - model railway Hamburg