See more Star Wars updates at www.dailymail.co.uk/starwars The birthplace of this year's must have Christmas toys - and Lego's £10billion empire - could not be more modest.Millions of Lego Death Stars, X-Wings and TIE Fighters flew off the production line in the toy giant's base of operations, the tiny Danish town of Billund which is home to just 6,000 people.Tied to the December release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the intergalactic figures have topped most children's wish lists.MailOnline was granted unprecedented access to the factory where the Star Wars figures were designed and built - a facility shrouded in such secrecy that only a handful of Lego's 15,000 employees are allowed inside its design studio. Birthplace of the resistance: Star Wars toys, this year's must have Christmas gift, are all built in the Lego factory in the Danish town of Billund, which is home to around 6,000 Brain power: Lego employs more than 200 designers to come up with creations like the Star Wars X-Wing, which are made up by its simple yet iconic coloured bricks
Must-have: The Lego Death Star (pictured) topped the Christmas lists of children across the world following the release of the highly-anticipated Star Wars: The Force AwakensOf Lego's four global factories, located in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Mexico, the Danish one is the largest - pumping out 27 billion blocks, plates and plastic figurines of the 60 billion the company produces every year.Here more than 200 designers are employed to come up with the top selling toys such as the X-Wing fighter, immortalised by Mark Hamill's Jedi hero Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars movie back in 1977.It was again used to fight the evil 'Dark Side' in the seventh installment of the sci-fi franchise, which has already made more than £500million around the world.The design geniuses at Lego equipped the miniature version of the intergalactic fighter jet with spring loaded shooters, opening wings, retractable landing gear and a cockpit.First stop on our tour was the moulding plant – Lego has 12 in Denmark alone, each packed with 64 machines, which operate 24 hours a day, apart from Christmas, New Year and Easter, making the bricks, which come in 60 different colours, and other components.
Eye-opening: The plastic generally arrives in lorries and is drawn into the factory's silos through plastic pipes. Pictured, a Lego Star Destroyer, one of the many Star Wars themed toys that were created this Christmas The Force Awakens: The coloured Lego parts for Star Wars themed toys, including Millennium Falcons and TIE fighters (both pictured) were designed and built in Billund Dream factory: The Billund factory (pictured) is shrouded in such secrecy that only a handful of Lego's 15,000 employees are allowed into its design studio Creativity: The design gurus at the factory even managed to equip the miniature version of the intergalactic fighter jet with spring loaded shooters, opening wings and retractable landing gear Imagination: Lego bricks come in an incredible 60 different colours, and are made in the factory 24-hours a day, except for Christmas, New Year and Easter Mystery machine: The iconic yellow Lego heads come in 50 different designs, but are only painted once they are assigned a characterThey are manned by robots but supervised by two people, who call for assistance if a machine needs servicing.
In another plant, machines churned out yellow heads – chosen to ensure they are ethnically neutral. There are 50 different designs but they are only painted once they are assigned a character. We watched as the standard ABS plastic arrived in lorries and was drawn into the silos through plastic pipes (although some of the more unusual colours arrive in tubs). After being mixed with a colourant, it was sucked into a cylinder and heated to up to 310°C, until it was the consistency of toothpaste. It was then squeezed through a pipe into the mould at a pressure 29,0000 psi (car tyres are pressurized between 29 and 43psi) and cooled to 70°C. Finally the machine opened and 16 perfectly-formed bricks dropped into a primary-coloured box to be collected by a robot. Final product: Packers sort the coloured bricks into the kits on children's wishlists in Kladno, outside Prague Characters: The specially-designed Star Wars figurines are in incredibly high demand this Christmas Fighters: Tied to the December release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the intergalactic figures have topped most children's wish lists
New worlds: Lego Design Director Simon Lucas, pictured with items on Ninjago that he is responsible for The residue was recycled back into the mould (just 0.04 per cent of the plastic is wasted). Next we followed a robot to the storage facility – one of four in Billund, which store a billion bricks. A robot crane, travelling up to six miles an hour, then transferred the box to join another 423,999 boxes nestling on 50 miles of shelfspace. From there the boxes of different coloured bricks were sent by lorry to Hamburg, where they were loaded onto a train bound for Kladno, just outside Prague. It is there that packers finally sorted the individual bricks into the kits on children's wishlists such as Poe's X-Wing Fighter – which has 717 orange and black bricks as well as a transparent cockpit, silver mudguard, pink cone and various plates and brackets. Not to mention its three mini figures – Poe Dameron, a Resistance X-Wing pilot and a Resistance ground crew – and the BB-8 Astromech Droid.
Then it is up to DHL to deliver the products to distributors in Britain, who send them onto toy shops in time for Christmas. Working hard: Poe's X-Wing Fighter has 717 orange and black bricks as well as a transparent cockpit, silver mudguard, pink cone and various plates and brackets. Pictured, inside the Lego Factory in Billund, Denmark Children's favourite: Yellow plastic bricks are churned out of a machine in the Lego Factory, soon to become toys for children around the world Fiddly pieces: Some of the items that are included in the box kits that have proved so popular this Christmas are tiny, and take immense care to make and pack Enormous: The factory in Billund is home to more than 1 billion Lego bricks, all of which go to creating toys Looking in: Outside the Lego Factory in Billund, Denmark, which has created millions of Lego Death Stars, X-Wings and TIE FightersLego, which comes from the Danish phrase leg godt or 'play well' was founded in 1932 by carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen during the depression.