Life in miniature

AFTER PUTTING us in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 simulator to pilot the plane to one of 24,000 destinations around the world, Agaphas Teparagul of Flight Experience, is now inviting us to steer back to land and see the world in miniature at his newly-opened Stanley MiniVenture.
Covering 1,500 square metres on the second floor of Bangkok’s Gateway Ekamai mall, the wonderland explores the world’s diversity through landscapes and ways of life in 1:87-scale miniature. Also known as HO scale, it’s the size used for model railways all around the globe. 

Stanley MiniVenture takes you on a journey through wonderland at 1:87 scale.

Divided into 11 zones, visitors make their way through gold and tin mines, dam construction sites, the Swiss Alps, historical European towns and city ports, fun fairs and beaches, to train stations and airports, caves and deserts, and high-rise buildings. Thousands of one-centimetre-high citizens illustrate their daily lives as they cycle, shop, dance and camp. 
“I love collecting model planes and trains,” says Agaphas, a civilian who pilots Royal Thai Air Force 604 aircraft. “When I first visited the miniature museum Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, I fell in love with its impressive airport zone, which has up to 40 different models of aircraft taxiing to the gates and landing complete with the sounds of turbine engines. As I am passionate about aviation, I decided to create my own miniature world devoted to flying but the project kind of expanded.”

Landscapes and a fantasy world are whimsically recreated in miniature.

Based on the concept “Perspective of Happiness and to Be Little Again”, the fantastically minimised world has been created by a production team of 20 and took almost three years for the research and the making. 
“We want this place to delight people of all ages. These small-scale models let children see a bigger picture of the world. They can learn about the different ways of doing things and come to understand how small each of us is in the global context.

“Our namesake is Stanley, an adventurous boy who travels around the world on a treasure hunt based on the clues given to him by his grandfather. He sees different countries and meets people of different cultures and returns home with nothing except the treasure of knowledge he has acquired from his grandfather’s teachings. Using this story, we’ve also developed a quiz game for children to discover lots of details that may be hidden behind trees and buildings or in the fields,” says Agaphas.

The dynamic scenes have model trains running along the coastline, through tunnels and mountain valleys, over bridges and into snow-capped towns and central business districts. Boat replicas slowly cruise along the rivers. Many tiny replicas are time set to create motions autonomously, such as human figures changing position and smoke billowing out of the chimneys.

A caravan of camels travels across the hot and dry desert.

Push-button action is also available. Press down and the cable cars, wind turbines and Ferris wheels rotate while the dinosaurs roar. Thanks to an effective light control system, a complete day is simulated in just six minutes and runs on a loop. This enables dynamic changes during a course of a day.

“Research is a major part of the process and that requires hundreds of photographs so it takes months to complete. We have to mix and match the models and build up landscape perspectives in a harmonious way. Many of the accessories are from Germany and are assembled and given the finishing touches by our team. We also created many of the components ourselves at the exact scale using a mix of technical know-how and precision,” says production director Chardkajorn Lertsawad.

Merchants rest in the middle of desert.

“It takes about 20 minutes to paint the costume and give a facial expression to a plain tiny figure. The clear expression and gestures let visitors see every mood in action. We have nearly 100,000 figures in our world!” 
And if 20 minutes sounds like an exaggeration, you can have a go at it yourself using a small paintbrush.

Gold and tin mines, a dam construction site and a power plant complete with workers stand sidebyside in the Resource Town zone.

The first zone is Resource Town. It brings together a damn inspired by the Hoover Dam in the US, tin and gold mining, power plants and construction sites where mini workers are hard at work. The mountainous landscape is made of plaster and coconut husk fibres. 
“This gives the viewer a visual perspective of where our natural resources come from and how teamwork is important to achieve a common goal,” Chardkajorn adds. 

Models of a Swiss farming village represent how people grow fruits and vegetables and raise animals to produce such commodities as food and fibre. American clean-design buildings share space with European Tudor architecture and the caravan of camels travelling across the hot and dry desert is set in contrast to a family of penguins walking on snow.

A family of penguins walks in line across the snow. 

The Port zone showcases the facilities for receiving ships and transferring cargo. The cranes that lift containers from the cargo ships can move autonomously and there are three remote-controlled ship models for visitors to have a go.
The Central Business District zone is home to such iconic buildings as the Chrysler Building, Oakland Tower, Empire State, World Financial Centre and Metlife to demonstrate how the world is moving forward. There’s also a replica of a Bangkok Skytrain station on view.

The Central Business District zone is home to iconic buildings.

 

A tiny replica of a Bangkok Skytrain station

The Airport zone is about 70-per-cent complete. Both runway and terminal are nearly finished but the detailed components of the check-in counters are not ready.
“The operation system to have the aircraft taxiing, taking off and landing in a realistic way requires very complex controls. Planes are lifted off the ground by small wires and are moved back from the gates by pushback vehicles in order to taxi to the runway. Though this zone isn’t completed yet, visitors will soon be able to see behind the scenes of our production process,” says Agaphas.

Still under construction, the Airport zone will delight any flight enthusiast. 

The last zone, Very Thai, is dedicated to Bangkok landmarks and is also in the process of being completed. Among the tiny replicas are Hua Lumphong Railway Station and Thai trains, the Victory Monument, a floating market, Yaowarat or China Town, the torn down old cinema Sala Chalerm Thai and old-time trams, and city’s tangled electrical wires.
“We’re in the process of asking approval from the Royal Household Bureau to miniature the memorable celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol’s accession to the throne on June 9, 2006. The scene will consist of tens of thousands of joyous people clad in yellow assembled outside the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. Another has His Majesty greeting the public from the Throne Hall balcony,” Agaphas says.

Bangkok’s Hua Lumphong Railway Station is on display at the Very Thai zone.

A souvenir shop offers different models of trains, figures, buildings and other accessories for those wanting to build their private mini worlds. Agaphas has also relocated his flight simulator from Silom Road to the Stanley MiniVenture. So here too you can be a pilot, even if only briefly, moving the plane from tarmac to shoulder, taking off, flying and landing under the guidance of instructors who will guide you through all procedures.

SMALL WORLD
Stanley MiniVenture is on the second floor of Bangkok’s Gateway Ekamai mall on Sukhumvit Road (BTS: Ekamai station). 
It’s open daily from 10am to 8pm. Admission is Bt450 for adults and Bt350 for children (Bt650 and Bt450 for foreigners). 
Call (091) 738 1806 or visit www.StanleyMiniVenture.com.