The Force awakens - see 16 pictures and 13 facts on Star Wars attraction at Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds in central London has opened its new multi-million pound interactive Star Wars experience, bringing to life some of the films’ most powerful moments featuring life-like wax figures in authentic walk-in sets.

Created in collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm, the experience uses dynamic special effects and dramatic themes to bring iconic locations such as the swamps of Dagobah, Jabba’s throne room, the cantina and the flight deck of the Millennium Falcon to life.

Fans can star alongside their favourite heroes and villains, such as sinister Stormtroopers, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca.

See below for 13 keys facts on the experience and also click here for a full Star Wars at Madame Tussauds picture gallery.

• It took 12 months to create the experience and bring to life 11 authentic sets with dramatic special effects and dynamic theming, featuring 16 famous Star Wars characters.
• A team of 180 sculptors, hair artists and colourists worked on creating the wax figures featured in the attraction.
• Every hair on each wax figure was inserted by hand – from Yoda’s fine grey wisps to Chewbacca’s mass of brown Wookiee hair – with an average of 10,000 hairs per head.
• Amazingly accurate skin colour for each character was achieved using more than 100ml per figure of oil paint applied by hand.
• The total cost of producing the wax figures alone was £2.5 million.
• The smallest wax figures in the experience are Master Yoda and Salacious B Crumb. Yoda stands at just 66cm tall and his figure was created using detailed measurements from one of the original Yoda models. Jabba the Hutt’s court jester Salacious B Crumb, is marginally smaller at a diminutive 41.2cm tall and his distinctive ears are 14cm long.
• The largest figure is Jabba the Hutt. 1.5 tonnes of clay was used to create the figure, which measures 2.9m long, 1.5m high and weighs in at a whopping 35 stone.
• The hairiest figure is 2m-tall Chewbacca. It took nearly 1,000 hours for a team of 10 hair inserters to create him head-to-toe using real yak hair.
• The lightsabers featured in the experience were specially created for Madame Tussauds by the team behind the weapons used in the original films.
• The largest scale set is the Duel of the Fates scene featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in their epic lightsaber battle with Darth Maul. The space spans two floors and the figures are portrayed in front of a gigantic light cylinder featuring 1,600 fibre optic tails to realistically recreate the lightening effect of flickering energy bursts.
• The biggest set is Jabba’s throne room featuring the massive gangster with Princess Leia and Salacious B Crumb. The grill of the rancor pit in the floor of the room was recreated using original reference materials from Skywalker Ranch.
• Yoda’s harsh swampy home on Dagobah is one of the most atmospheric sets in the experience featuring astonishingly realistic fake trees, swamp foliage and fog effects.
• The ‘I am your father’ scene featuring Darth Vader was brought to life using a delicate and extremely detailed scale model of the 1980 scene from the Skywalker Ranch archives.

Entry to Star Wars at Madame Tussauds is included in the main admission price, which starts from £24.75 for adults, £21.60 for children. Find out more at www.madametussauds.com/london.