Hallo and a warm welcome to a new episode of MiWuLa-News.
At last,
our most elaborate and detailed special exhibition has been opened:
The History of our Civilization in miniature.
As announced before,
we've developed an exhibition which makes history tangible, in cooperation
with the Federal Agency for Political Education in Hamburg.
In 7.000 working hours, 8 dioramas arose,
which tell more than 6.000 years of Central European history.
From the Neolithicum 5500 B.C
we depicted the Early and Late Middle Ages,
the Baroque Era,
and then in several time leaps every 150 years, until the year 1942.
The historical developments of infrastructure, economy, religion and politics,
family life, governance, social life,
and health issues are just some of topics apparent in each diorama.
Far more than 2.000 handmade figurines tell their tales of living in past times.
The building costs for all 8 dioramas amount to round-about 150.000 Euro.
You can learn more about this special exhibition on our website.
You can look forward to a spellbinding and unique history lesson.
Right now, our staff is busy with the largest building site in Wunderland's history.
Never before, we had the possibility to rebuild an entire floor at once.
Lately, we've grown immensely.
Past year, we had 1.2 million visitors, and we now have 270 staff members. .
Especially, the streams of visitors need a lot of space.
For one and a half years we developed a building plan which we are realizing right now.
Next to blueprinting new rooms, we had to deliberate
many technological issues like air conditioning, screens, and cable routes.
We'll have a much larger waiting room,
where visitors will not only be received more comfortably, but also be better informed.
The main entrance will be relocated, the shop will be larger,
the restaurant area more generous,
the kids corner will get a new element, and much more.
You'll learn more about it in the new episode of Gerrit's Diary.
We can announce a new ferry route in the Scandinavia layout:
The Scandline "Berlin" is now cruising the Baltic Sea
and enforces the ship traffic between Germany and Denmark.
In a solemn ceremony the ship was named in the presence of Bengt Pihl, CEO of Scandlines,
and Carsten Watsack, the future Captain
of the real ferry.
The maiden voyage was accompanied by small fireworks.
The big sister ship - 169 m long and 24.80 meter wide -
is being built in the Stralsund P+S dockyard.
Godmother Britt Fischer-Jahn, representing P+S Dockyards, was naming the ship:
May water, wind and waves favor ship, captain, and the crew.
May the ship, its captain and the crew always have one hand-width of water underneath the keel.
May healthy, merry, and content people be on board at all times.
Of course, there're many details to be discovered on this ship.
You can revel at her at the Northern and Baltic Sea in our Scandinavia layout.
After the modernization of the grassy areas in the Knuffingen layout,
the Austria layout will be refurbished, completely.
Old grassy areas were stripped and newly plastered.
In some areas we redecorated, completely.
Even the tiniest niches in these mountains were worked on,which is tedious work.
All old trees were removed and replaced with improved models.
Underneath the cloth covered site,
there now is a maintenance lid accessing the cable cars.
The electric wiring in this layout was overhauled, completely.
New LEDs will light up treads in the dark for better orientation of our "train conductors".
After this modernization the layout will seem like a whole new section.
Of course, we took care, that "old" scenes, like the bicycle race can still be found,
but new details were added.
Not only Austria is being modernized,
but all other layouts, as well.
In Scandinavia a few models, which don't blend
into their surroundings or need refurbishing,
are being replaced, for example, this building.
A true highlight is the Arctic Cathedral.
The original was built in Tromsø/Norway in 1965.
The unique architecture with pointed roof is supposed to symbolize polar lights, ice, and the long winter-darkness.
The backside of the building is a huge, colorful glass-stain window.
It is one of Europe's largest glass tableaus.
In the dark, the illumination immerses the building into a special atmosphere.
After several weeks of work, you can find the replica on our layout.
For the mass transit station at the Northern Sea layout, we are building a new model.
Because the old station did not blend well into the landscape,
we are constructing an entirely new building.
At the same time, we are overhauling Atlantis completely.
In the upcoming weeks, many new scenes will enrich our underwater world.
Many of you are familiar with this building.
It will replace an old building at a very special location, namely in Knuffingen.
The new Castle Löwenstein.
For 10 years, the fire department has fought fires, here.
Now, it's time for a change.
Christian is preparing the fire simulation device - a smoke box.
Later, we'll connect it to the fog machine, and the tubes for different fire sites.
As soon as the electricians are done with the illumination,
this model will generate great entertainment on the layout.
There's a lot going on in the airplane workshop.
The body shell of the Boeing 747-400 is ready for lacquering.
So is the Airbus A310 freight.
Finally, the new TUIfly-aircraft in ICE-look has landed.
This Boeing 737-800 version also flies in real life.
Because of its appearance, it suits our layout very well.
We also worked on new detail for the apron,
i.e. in the area for private planes.
Also, we have novelties in the vehicle department.
Once in a while, our vehicles
need body work.
These here are being lacquered by Jens.
This will be a true to the original replica of a rescue ladder
for the Knuffingen Airport fire department.
The construction takes longer than planned, because we have
to search for solutions to integrate our car-system technology.
We can announce innovations regarding push-button actions.
In the USA layout, the already existing police incident was upgraded:
now:
the police car turns over,
and the figures jump for cover when the button is pushed.
In the Hamburg layout, a new light show in the planning.
During night simulation, fireworks will illuminate the sky.
Stefan is building some prototypes. It will be a truly colorful eye-catcher.
It will be a truly colorful eye-catcher.
After the image of a photo turned in by one of our guests,
Stefan has designed this turned-over truck for the Harz layout. Sometimes,
things can go wrong when loading a rubble container, as Stefan will demonstrate:
With a motor underneath, it will be able to tilt.
The magnetic field can pour in slowly
- uups, that was too fast!
That's the problem at the moment:
either it tilts too fast, or too slowly.
Here, it turns very slowly, and at any moment, it will reach the critical point.
These fun push-button actions and many other innovations
are awaiting you in Wunderland.
That's all for this month.
Thanks for watching.
We are looking forward to your visit.