In the famous words of Gerry Andersons' Thunderbirds so it was that just after midnight, on Tuesday 18 March 2003, the Magpie Models website went live. The culmination of many months of hard work for Jan Adams and her team this event was exactly what everyone was waiting for. This is the story so far.

Jan's association with Magpie Models dates back many years, in fact to 1988 when Jan supplied leather to the business for making saddles. With Jan's leather working skills its wasn't long before she was helping design new items and organise their manufacture. When Magpie Models were bought in 1995 Jan's business and organisational skills were used during the transfer and initially while the offices were transferred to Surrey. Magpie's closure in 1998 was not, as many people thought financial; it was a matter of market demand. Simply put orders had dropped and it just was not viable to continue with a very labour intensive business. Jan had kept in contact with the owners since helping them organise the move and like many Magpie Models fans was saddened at the closure.

In early 2002 Jan investigated the possibility of once again returning Magpie Models to the market. Much research was undertaken and it was decided in late 2002 that one the best ways to re-launch Magpie Models would be via the internet. During this time Jan had been in negotiation with the Surrey based owners about its acquisition with an agreement finally being struck in the autumn of 2002. Magpie Models were coming home to Devon and would be launched once more, this time to a true World wide audience.

In December 2002, Jan approached a small new media agency in her home town of Teignmouth, in Devon. It would be their brief to create a website and marketing campaign to match to re-launch Magpie Models. In February 2003 the first website and drawings were shown to Jan for her approval, after a few minor changes the designs were agreed and the mammoth task of photography and stocking began.

It took one photographer and her assistant five days to photograph each model and accessory. Each was carefully positioned, lit, then photographed, Jan oversaw the complete project and even became an assistant in charge of grooming. Once this had been finalised the photographer produced digital images of each item, in two sizes. This was then transferred to the e-shop software and a description was added with details of its weight, price and stock level. Again Jan oversaw the whole project whilst still organising the press, checking on the hand manufacture of stock and looking after her family and other business interests.

Two days before the launch day Jan had to take a back seat whilst the final touches were put to the website and final testing was undertaken on the shopping cart. On launch night Jan sat by her computer waiting for the launch and at 00.08hrs she saw along with many others the results of her hard work.