The new 21 foot diameter dome was completed 3 weeks before the 2011 June 2,3,4 convention, where it was used for the first time.
It is a homemade; custom; 2 layer; 15 gore; 21 foot diameter planetarium dome with a walk-in entrance—designed; laid out; cut out; and partially sewed, in my garage. There are about 230 square yards of material with a weight of 140 lbs. 98% of the sewing was done by the American Sign Factory located in Elk Grove Village, IL. Their awnings division is called Awnings Plus. Awnings Plus was formerly a separate company, located in Addison IL and owned by Kent Weber. The project manager was Katie Benes. Randy Barajas did the graphics.
The old 16 foot diameter StarLab dome with a crawl-in entrance seats 25 people. The new 21 foot diameter custom dome with a walk-in entrance seats 45 people comfortably.
(We had 58 visitors in the dome for one session. It was really packed—but they did all fit!)