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.
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TOP TEN EVIE FACTS

The original- Evie Air Base 1.0

The Upgrade- Evie Air Base 2.0

EVIE Air Base: The Upgrade video

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 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 simple Windows Media editing- no photoshop, no green screen, no superimposed images. I sometimes use mini pyrotechnics to recreate blasts or explosions. 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 sometimes created for YouTube.
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).

The original model airport design

Evie 1.0- Airport design sketch

Evie 1.0 Control Tower sketch

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. 

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