Malaysia's Largest Miniature Exhibition Is Finally A Reality After 8 Years In The Making
Though still a work-in-progress, the exhibition is on track to open its doors in September 2016.
By Samantha Khor — 26 Aug 2016, 06:30 PM
36,000 man hours, 25 Master Builders, and eight years in the making. Malaysia's largest indoor miniature exhibition is quickly becoming a reality, with its doors set to open next month at USJ Summit!
The exhibition, laid out over a massive 17,000 square feet of space, will comprise of 12 themed sections made out of extremely detailed miniature sculptures and dioramas
The exhibition will feature scenes ranging from the countryside and plantation sites to industrial areas and city landscapes, with moveable trains and vehicles to bring them to life.
At the centre of the upcoming exhibition is 'The Dataran', in which you will see the iconic historical buildings surrounding Dataran Merdeka in full detail and in miniature form
MinNature, the team behind this impressive venture, has also crafted the longest miniature train tracks - complete with trains that move around - for the exhibition
Each and every one of these miniature models are handcrafted by a total of 25 Masterbuilders from scratch, with Grand Architect Alvin Wan overseeing the entire project from start to finish
"Our Masterbuilders come from a wide range of trades; we have architects, scale modelers, engineers, graphic designers, marketing and even a lawyer," Alvin revealed in an interview with SAYS.
According to Alvin, initial planning for a miniature exhibit was conceived way back in 2008 with seven of his close friends from high school, but they only started working on it in 2014 after securing the funding they needed.
While most of the miniature models are streamlined with 3D printing, the exhibit's landscape structures are painstakingly built with plywood, plaster compounds, and steel legs
"The landscape main structures were build up using over 540 pieces of 4 feet by 8 feet plywoods, 4 tonnes of plaster compound and over 1,500kg of steel legs. Our tallest mountain peak stands at 4.313 meter high. 80% of our landscape item (e.g. grass turfing and tress) were also produced by the Masterbuilders. Many hours of research and development were spent to ensure that the things that we produce, resemble the actual items," Alvin explained.
"For the miniature models, we use 3D printing technology to fabricate most of our huge buildings and building block structures. 99% of the buildings and structures were designed and fabricated in-house," Alvin said.
"We have printed over 1 tonnes of ABS plastics with our 10 units of 3D printers (the same plastics used by LEGO). On site, the Masterbuilders will use the 3D printed part to assemble the main structure and then using their creativity to put in the details and bring live to the dioramas.," he added.
The live exhibition will be permanently situated at USJ Summit, with new dioramas and buildings to be added so as to provide a new experience for returning visitors. Check out the trailer here:
For updates and more behind-the-scenes photos, check out MinNature Malaysia's Facebook page!