« previous Although much simplified, the film's miniature accurately represents that city, including its central boulevard and immense "Gross Hall", the dome of which was to have risen some twelve hundred feet into the air. The model was built by modelmaker Michael Morgan and myself in a period of about eighteen weeks. Approximately thirty structures were built out of wood and styrene plastic. Typically a single facade was constructed, then molded in silicone. Multiple castings were then made out of liquid polyurethane plastic and applied to wooden building forms. Next, the entire finished building was molded in silicone. This allowed multiple high-quality buildings to be cast up in polyurethane for the "hero" model. (more below)
	For the burning model scene, lesser quality buildings were cast out of plaster. Plaster was used to avoid the toxic fumes that would have been created by burning plastic buildings. Plaster buildings also lasted longer in the flames. In all, over one hundred and thirty buildings were made this way. They were painted a neutral gray to match what Speer had done on his models. On set, all of the buildings were left independent of one another so that they could be configured in different ways for different shots. As a final touch, the model was dressed out with miniature people, vehicles, tree flags and statues to help give the model a sense of scale. The Germania model was interesting to build both because of its impressive architectural style and because of the unique history behind the original Germania designs and what they symbolized. Luckily, the original Germania never made it off the drawing board. « previous THE EMPTY MIRROR is now available on DVD and VHS. Click here to purchase.