INTRODUCTION
This project started like all the others, I get bored at work then I start sketching out an idea. I knew how I was going to do the outside of the club, but had no idea how I was going to do the inside. So I turned to the internet looking for any kinds of Outlander Club pictures I could find. I was surprised that there were so many and I was happy, because now I knew I would be able to pull this project off.

THE ENTRANCE
I started the building process with the front entrance. This was by far the most complex part of this project with a lot of pieces to cut and goofy angles to piece together. I knew this had to be right because it was shown in great detail in the movie.

WORKING ON THE OUTSIDE
After I finished the main entryway I started to work outward. There was blue lit up pillars on both sides of the Club entrance, that also had to turn out just right. Although the pillars I built are not glowing neon blue, I do think I did the best I could to make a decent effect to capture the look of the pillars. Now that the front of the building is complete I can start moving inward.

WORKING ON THE INSIDE
I was really looking forward to moving to the inside of this diorama because I had a lot of neat ideas to implement into it. By this time I already had put together the first of several gaming tables I was going to use to fill the large inside space I had to work with. This gaming table idea was from an actual photo I found from the Outlander Club in the movie. I was faced with another dilemma which was how am I going to fill this beast up to look like a busy nightclub?  I just started to examine the movie, and lots of pictures I found on the Internet.

The pictures were very helpful for the general layout of about 3/4 of the Club, the other 1/4 I had to wing on my own. I added a dance floor area, which was one of my own additions that seemed to have blended well with the whole concept. The three gambling screens had me a little concerned on how I was going to bring them to light. The Podrace screen I borrowed from a screen shot from the video game, that was easy #1 was done. The other two gambling screens were enlarged and Photoshopped from an actual movie screen shot. They were a little bit more of a challenge to pull off and I think they turned out pretty decent for what I had to work with. Let the illegal gaming begin! I also built a few made-up gaming tables to go along with them new big screen TVs. All the things I built combined with the eight bar tables and full circle center bar incorporated into the diorama, it started to fill in nicely.

CONTACTED BY AN EWOK?
Shortly after I finished the center bar I received e-mail from Frank D’Lorio (a.k.a. niubniub of www.niubniubsubiverse.com) who was writing me to invite me to showcase my Outlander Club diorama at Celebration 3 in Indianapolis. This just blew me away! This was the man who inspired me to start building these foam core treasures, and he picked my diorama because it was one of the best in the country. I accepted the offer and kicked things into high gear for I had 4 months and one more section to build along with lots of detail to incorporate to get this monster diorama finished in time for the big show.

THE FINAL SECTION
One more section is all I needed to build to finish the structure, which I referred to it as “the infamous and baffling 6th section.” This part of the club was not shown to any extent or detail in the movie so I had to come up with something on my own. I was going to just build another gaming table to fill the space, but I already had 4 of them in the Club, after all this was a bar, not a casino. I ended up leaving the space open to allow for a band to be set up. On the walls I incorporated a Revenge of the Sith movie poster along with a Celebration III poster in honor of me bringing it to the show. It worked out great, and a lot of people thought it was cool that I incorporated them into the diorama even though it wasn’t movie accurate. The beast was for the most part complete now with just some details left to be completed. This is where our very own forum member David Marks (a.k.a. Y-WingJager) stepped up to the plate and hit a huge home run!

Dave offered his services to build customs for the Outlander Club and came through with close to 90 original custom figures and a couple custom vehicles to populate this what I know dubbed “Monster Diorama.” Dave really had a lot of very neat ideas for his customs that looked very believable and natural in the bar setting. People at Celebration III were always commenting on how good the figures looked, and they couldn’t believe that one guy came up with all them different looks. I tell you, every time Dave sent me a new load of customs through the mail it just blew me away that they were all different from the last batch, and he was sending sometimes 20 customs at a time. Thanks again Dave for all your help on this project, and making it the success it was with all your 3 3/4 inch masterpieces. We’re like the Dynamic Duo of the diorama scene!

PACKING IT ALL UP FOR THE TRIP TO CELEBRATION III
After working the final details out which was on the night before I left for Celebration III all I had to do was gently pack the diorama into six individual boxes for the 600 mile trek to CIII. Fast Forward sixteen hours. We arrived at the show on Friday morning and brought the diorama into the show after tracking down Frank. At this point I was really eager to find out how this beast held up during the long trip of many bumps, shifting and even a curb or two. I enlisted the help of our very own David Syczylo (a.k.a. Boba Binks) who was one of Frank’s volunteers in the diorama area to help me put the beast together. I was very happy to see that the diorama was in perfect condition just as I had packed it six hundred miles ago, and that was a huge burden off my shoulders. There were some of the best Star Wars diorama builders in the world at this show so everything had to be perfect. We got the beast set up in about twenty minutes and people were already starting to gather around to see what was going on, now comes the fun part.

The fun part I am referring to is the setting up of all the cool custom figures that Dave Marks created for this club. David Syczylo, my son, and I spent about a half hour bringing this club to life with crowds growing larger and many people already snapping pictures to capture the moment. I was on cloud nine when it was finally all set up for I knew now that I could relax and watch the reactions of the people checking out my creation.

DISPLAYING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME
Even the great niubniub was drooling on my shirt when he first saw it set up! Perhaps the only thing I would have done different would have been to implement some sort of action figure stands built into the floor. The biggest problem: The Club was jumpin' and the patrons kept falling over! Another great highlight was being sought out by the local newspaper and being interviewed by the Wausau Daily Herald. Sure they called me a Star Wars geek, and if I am I guess I'm very proud of it. I was also asked by the local theatre to display my work in the lobby where they did a very good job of keeping the area around the diorama. I never expected to get this kind of backlash when I was building this in my basement what seems like a long time ago. You never know what will happen if you put the desire and work behind it. The icing on the cake was the release of Star Wars Insider #82. Featured in the Celebration III coverage pages was the Outlander Club, with Boba Binks and myself. Even though you can see neither of our faces, you can see the Sandtroopers.com T-Shirt Boba Binks was wearing, which was pretty cool to see as well. I've taken a little hiatus from building lately but I'm looking forward to my next project. It will certainly be a task to out-do but hopefully when the next project is done many will think it's the Sith too!

PHOTO GALLERY
To see the photo gallery containing 92 photos click here.