Star Wars Miniland Coming To LEGOLAND California

Recently I blogged the Millenium Falcon model being transported to this new display, opening March 31.
The web site "From Bricks To Bothans" (FBTB) attended a press event at the start of the year and reported details, with photos from the LEGOLAND workshop. See details and more photos at this link:
    fbtb.net star-wars-miniland-coming-to-legoland-california

Excerpt from the press release: ... "The roughly 2,000 LEGO STAR WARS models are being developed and built by eight model designers and two animation electricians at our sister park, LEGOLAND Deutschland in Günzburg, Germany. It is up to the Master Model Builders at LEGOLAND California to bring the scenes to life with the help of animation electricians, technicians and landscapers all working to ensure the LEGO models appear as realistic as possible with special effects and landscaping.

LEGOLAND workshop. Gary McIntire with Miniland Tauntaun 1

Planning started in March 2010. The individual film scenes were selected after careful consultation with Lucasfilm Ltd. Pictures and drawings of the figures, spacecraft, vehicles, landscapes, etc. were taken as the basis for the detailed construction blueprints. The model designers used a special LEGO drawing paper for this, on which one square is equivalent to one LEGO knob. In the next step, they calculated how many bricks and which colors and forms would be needed for the models. For particularly difficult model parts, prototypes are first built, before the model is constructed brick by brick. To help the LEGO models last longer, all of the bricks are glued together and then sprayed with a special UV coating.

Authentic STAR WARS sounds, actions and lighting effects help to make the models even more lifelike. For all models, only commercially available LEGO pieces are used.

LEGOLAND Deutschland and LEGOLAND Billund will also be opening new STAR WARS Miniland displays in 2011."