The MassiveRT Project - Interactive Visualization of Massively Complex 3D Models
Apparently, they modelled a Boeing 777. All parts of it (more or less) and by looking at the videos provided on the site you will understand...
A suitable project for all of you taking CAD classes and wants to impress your teacher... Create a Boeing 777...The Boeing 777 model contains roughly 350,000,000 (350 million) triangles, which arrived in a compressed (!) form on 12 CDs. The entire model to be rendered (including all triangles, BSP trees etc.), consumes roughly 30-60 GByte on disk. We render the full model, without any simplifications or approximations including pixel-accurate shadows and highlights.