How It All Began

EVIE:
​The Origin

Construction of the original Evie Air Base started in May 2012 and was mostly completed by July 2012. The diorama sat unused and unnamed for almost a year till March 2013 when it was officially named Evie and made public through the posting of its first story.

The name Evie came from tragic events of 2013, when I lost my baby daughter- Eve who was born pre-term and still born approaching 20 weeks. At the time, it just made sense to pay tribute to Eve and name my diorama creation after her. Those months spent creating the early scenes and update stories provided a healthy distraction from my personal anguish, sorrow and pain.  

In 2017 the 6 x 2 ft base received an upgrade with an extended base to measure 8 x 3 ft,  and now included- two new steel cased, reinforced concrete Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS), hosting 24-hour Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) fighters; Two new helipads and two multi frequency Satellite Communication Towers; A state of the art Radar tower sitting alongside a modernised Air Traffic Control Tower and terminal building, with a new officers Mess between them. A new Maintenance hangar is located at the far end. 

A couple of old buildings from 1.0 are still visible in 2.0 and these include the Administrative Block, now relocated close to the main entrance and the Old Fire House (which was the former service entrance) is back to its original function as a Fire House. A new split level car park has been built on the site of the former main car park also. Two aircraft stands have been constructed  to accommodate several jets or a couple of wide body transport aircraft each.

Look carefully and you will spot the old red phone booth which is situated close to its original location.

EVIE:
The illusion of Scale 

Before Evie was created, I pondered on the appropriate scale. I'm glad I went with what I did or it all would have been too large or too small.  

Scale was always a funny topic for Evie. The model is built on 1/144 scale. However as figures in that scale are not readily available I use 1/150 figures and vehicles. Most buildings are also at that scale
(or what is referred to as N scale [N gauge] for model train collectors).

​However I have been known to use varied scales for aircraft in the same scenes with a forced perspective of the camera angle make it visually consistent.  Most of the larger aircraft are in 1/200.  I once used a 1:400 aircraft which was very difficult to shoot but the results turned out great!

.
Picture
The original- Evie Air Base 1.0
Picture
The Upgrade- Evie Air Base 2.0
  VIDEO: Evie Air Base: The Upgrade

SUPERMODELNATION: The Art of bringing Models to Life

Super, Model, Animation
Evie Air Base is brought to "life" through a concept I have termed “Supermodelnation”, which is an amalgam of the words ‘Super’, ‘Model’, ‘Animation’. This harkens back to the term “Supermarionation” coined by the 60's model making genius Gerry Anderson (my Hero).

Supermodelnation brings Evie Air base to life using a combination of clever camera angles, good lighting techniques and 'in flight' aerial shots (making the models appear to 'fly') using only simple Windows Media editing to remove the support threads- BUT I have always insisted, with all my work, that there will be NO photoshop, NO green screen and NO superimposed images used! I tend to use mini pyrotechnics to recreate blasts or explosions. Again, all real and using no computer generated explosion effects or imagery. Sometimes I use lighting techniques for creating blast effects.

Intricate story lines are developed as the backdrop for the pictures which are compiled into photo stories. These are released in serials across different aviation forums. The main Forum and 'home base' of Evie stories has been the Aviation Delight Forum. Video compilations are subsequently created for YouTube. Some of the stories are then altered for the video releases It all makes for quite remarkable viewing so please, enjoy as you watch and read.

How Evie Was Made

 Back in 2002, almost a decade before Evie 1.0 was built, I had the idea to build a model airport. I had no idea about scale, size or location. I however, always knew it would be a military base. With this, I sketched a bold design on paper that had 3 runways, a main terminal building and several hangars. It also had a few anti aircraft and tank installations dotted around. In 2007 I transferred the design onto my  laptop and came up with the slightly outlandish looking sketch plan shown below. 

​In 2012, when the design sketches for Evie were drawn, they looked quite different from the original sketch. In Evie 1.0 most of the buildings created differed also from the sketches, although the Control Tower and some Hangar designs were quite similar to their designs. If you look at the laptop sketch  diagram carefully you will find that Evie 1.0 was based on everything from Runway One downwards, with changes to the terminal and entrance. The static centerpiece display plane within the entrance car park was however incorporated (this was later moved to make room during the 2013 Air Show).
Picture
The original model airport design
Picture
Evie 1.0- Airport design sketch
Picture
Evie 1.0 Control Tower sketch
Picture
Evie 1.0- Hangar sketches

​Materials used for the buildings on Evie 2.0 vary. The split-level car park and the Radar station, are laser cut card kits. The Mess, Maintenance Hangar and Control Tower are plastic kit builds. The two Hardened  Aircraft Shelters are plastic kits with customised modifications to suit. My favorite modification is the all glass Security observation bridge adjoining the Control Tower building.  The tarmac is individually hand carved cork tiles painstakingly laid. Some were retained from Evie 1.0 . The taxiways are carved card and a printed runway with LED lights. 
HOME      FACT FILE      EVIE 1.0 ADVENTURES      EVIE 2.0 ADVENTURES