A farmer from northeastern China’s Liaoning province has created a 1:1 scale model of an Airbus A320, Beijing Youth Daily reported. As a plane lover since childhood, the farmer, Zhu Yue, has always wanted to have an aircraft of his own.
The model is being built at a factory in an industrial park of Kaiyuan, in northeast China’s Liaoning. Being a 1:1 scale model of an Airbus A320, it is 37.84 meters in length, 36 meters in width, and 12 meters in height.
Zhu has used 40 tons of steel and spent over 800,000 RMB (about $121K) to date.
He has received various comments about his model plane from net users. Some people are inspired by this dream chaser, while others wonder if it is all hype.
Zhu explained that it is his childhood dream of making a plane that has prompted him to do this. “I was a farmer before and later engaged in different businesses, and I just want to realize my dream now that I am richer,” he said.
Zhu started building the model last October. With zero aerospace knowledge, he spent three months preparing, studying, and dismantling models, and searching for information.
He has made a rotatable engine to make the model more realistic. Though it is not able to take off, Zhu said he wants it to be the best A320 model in China.
The model is expected to be completed around May next year, but Zhu has not decided what to do with it. “Right now, I just want to finish it, but I will probably open a restaurant or hotel in the plane,” Zhu said.
