Biggest aircraft model-world record set by
Airbus A380 model
LONDON, UK --
The largest model of a commercial aircraft ever built is a
79ft long scale model of the Airbus A380 superjumbo, constructed
on the entrance road to London Heathrow Airport.
Photo:Despite
being only a third of the size of the real aircraft, the model
still measures 24 metres long with wingspan of 26 metres./
AP (enlarge
photo)
Emirates Airline president Tim Clark said:
"We expect the model to become strongly associated with Heathrow
and a striking icon for many millions of air travellers."
Emirates will next week receive its first A380 superjumbo
- one of 58 it has ordered from Airbus.
Built by California-based Penwal Industries,
the model 24m long with a wingspan of 26m – a one-third scale
replica- 3ft 4in wider than a real Concorde, setting the world
record for the Biggest aircraft model.
The prime section of advertising real-estate,
located north of the tunnel under Heathrow’s runway 09L/27R,
was acquired by Emirates in April 2007. British Airways had
held the site for 16 years and had installed a scale model
of a BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde at the entrance to Heathrow.
More than 25 million travellers pass
the roundabout on the approach to the Heathrow terminals each
year, making it one of the advertising world's most valuable
properties.
“While the previous Concorde model represented
the past, our A380 represents the future – and it is a future
of cleaner, quieter aircraft,” says Clark.
The replica A380, in the Emirates colours, will
be more than twice the size of the Concorde model, which was
based at Heathrow for 16 years until March 2007, when British
Airways ended its association with the site. The Concorde
model has now been moved to the Brooklands Aviation Museum
in Surrey.
Los Angeles-based model specialist Penwal reproduced
the A380 after close liaison with Emirates and Airbus in Toulouse
to ensure exact specifications. It took five months to create
the array of parts needed ahead of its arrival in London.
The model is built from glass-reinforced plastic
covering a steel frame. It was flown from Ontario in California
to Heathrow on 5 July by a chartered Antonov An-124, operated
by Russian carrier Polet. Once in London a mechanical ramp,
brought in specially from Germany, was used to unload the
10 components.
The world's leading aviation museum, The Smithsonian
Air and Space Museum in Washington, has stated it is the largest
known aircraft model in existence
Emirates has so far placed orders for 58 of the
superjumbos, each of which takes six months to construct and
has a price-tag of about $315 million (£158 million).
Airbus chief operating officer for customers John
Leahy said: “It is fitting that the world’s largest commercial
aircraft is replicated by what we believe is the world’s biggest
aircraft model at the world’s busiest international airport.”
Model facts:
Weighs more than 45 tonnes
Wingspan of 26 metres and a length of 24 metres
Same size as a real Boeing 737
Exact 1:3 scale of the real A380, the world's largest
airliner More than twice the size of the roundabout's
previous Concorde model
Made of glass-reinforced plastic over a steel frame
Foundations required 600 tonnes of concrete.
Related:
Largest
passenger plane-world record set by Airbus A380
Thursday, July 24, 2008
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