A master model ship builder sees a relationship between a nation's industrial development and the skill of its model-building population. He also tells Zhu Moqing that Chinese young people are in serious need of the DIY spirit essential in the scale-model world.

Switching on a desk lamp, putting on some classical music, sipping tea and then for hours meticulously attaching hair-thin rigging onto a model of the HMS Dreadnought (1906) - one of the last touches to the beloved project that has lasted for months.

This scene conjures up perhaps an elderly maritime connoisseur in the West, or a Japanese scale-model geek, but definitely not someone in fast-paced Shanghai. However, this is the passion of retiree Wu Linzhao who lives in Xuhui District.

The 1/350 HMS Dreadnought is the latest masterpiece by 64-year-old Wu, who recently published a book recounting the production of his 25-ship model collection, which has been carefully chosen to represent 500 years of maritime history. It's what Wu calls his "time capsule fleet," starting with a medieval Venetian galley. Quite a few model vessels are Chinese, including the Dingyuan, the German-built flagship of the Chinese navy during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the first war with Japan (1894-1895).

Neatly displayed in his living room, the fleet is divided into eight squadrons, each representing a milestone in the development of ships: the age of geographical discovery, the golden age of sail, ironclads, dreadnoughts, destroyers, submarines, aircraft carriers and stealth warships.

All the models are in a uniform 1/350 scale so it's easy to see how Columbus's Nina is so dramatically dwarfed by a modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier such as the USS Enterprise (his model around 1 meter long).

Miniature world

Closer inspection reveals an astonishing, miniature world - the detailed portholes and guns on the sailing ships, the railings and rigging with correct thinness on the dreadnoughts, the vivid carrier-based aircraft with flashing canopies, the realistic paintwork with proper "rusting" and weathering. What is extraordinary is that he created this miniature showcase entirely with ordinary magnifying glasses.

Sparkling with traces of historical accuracy and decades of craftsmanship in modeling, Wu's fleet was actually born as a pastime only nine years ago of a very domestic need - he wanted to adorn his new apartment. It was only after retirement in 2009 that he could devote more time to his hobby. But it would not have been possible without his life experience and a seafaring dream that went back to his childhood.

The walls in his apartment, decorated with his oil paintings, wood engravings and Chinese ink paintings, reveal his career as a versatile artist. He used to work as a newspaper illustrator and then a designing manager in a home decorating company. His artistic skill is evident in his models - the realistically textured wooden hulls of the sailing ships and the rust on the steel hulls were all realized with oil paint.

"Scale modeling is half art and half technology," says Wu.

For the technology part, he referred to his short encounter with modeling when he was a schoolboy. At that time model ships and aircraft could only be made from scratch.





He would start a project by laying the keel, exactly like building a real ship. Although his dream of being a shipbuilder came to an abrupt end due to political upheaval, he easily adapted his modeling skills to his later job as an interior designer, which in turn contributes to the construction of his current fleet.

"Making models can be a hobby or a sport, but what's more intriguing is its cultural and social implication," says Wu.

The broad view he acquired through his interests in painting, music, photography, history and his extensive travels in Europe has not only given birth to his unique fleet but also made him consider the relationship between modeling and national power.

"A country's level of industrial development is positively correlated to its model building population because the precision in making models is exactly what is needed in building the real thing," he says. "Germany and Japan are very good examples."

Accurate reproduction

"On the other hand, traditional Chinese aesthetics valued poetic impression rather than accurate reproduction," Wu observes. "That's a reason behind China's tragic loss to the Western powers in the 19th century and even today China is still known mainly for its primary products."

His project of making a model of the black-awning boat typical of water towns around Shanghai was initially halted because he could find neither a plan of the boat nor any reliable historical information. He ended up by converting a crude, exaggeratedly shaped souvenir model he bought in Xitang, a water town in neighboring Jiashan City.

This kind of improvisation is also what sets Wu apart from other model makers.

"Plastic model kits on today's market are like fast-food," he says.

Wu is never content with simply assembling the kits, even with more sophisticated accessories like photo-etch. He only buys basic photo-etch parts such as railings and helicopter rotors while creating other details with whatever is in hand. This not only saved a lot of money but also proved to be the most fun part of modeling.

Take his USS Enterprise for example, the angled antenna masts were made from sewing needles, the safety nets around the flight deck from ornaments on a skirt, the searchlights from decorative "diamonds" on girls' mobile phones, the rigging from curtain fabrics and a whole set of signal flags from his own hand drawing.

Sometimes, when his wife wants to sweep the apartment, she finds that Wu has taken the threads from her broom for his models. They make perfect rope ladders for sailing ships and were a key material in his successful conversion of a basic kit of the battleship USS Arizona.

The original kit represents the ship before she was bombed in Pearl Harbor in 1941. But Wu took the challenge of converting her back to her state when she was launched in 1915. It involved total reconstruction of the superstructure.

"I was fascinated by the cage masts typical of World War I American battleships and broom threads did a good job in bringing them back to life," he says.

But his most cherished works are the models built from scratch, including the two sailing ship squadrons and the cutting-edge littoral combat ship USS Independence launched in 2008. He is especially proud of the Independence because he began the project immediately after the website of Austal USA, the ship's actual builder, published some photos and diagrams of the ship in 2008.

"Those were some breathtaking months," Wu recalls. "I was relieved to learn that the real ship was still in sea trials when I finished mine."

"Before I retired, many clients would seek my help when they found it difficult to do such simple things as hanging a picture on the wall," he says. The DIY spirit he cultivated in scratch-building model ships is what many Chinese people need, he observed.

Wu has been contributing to "Model World," a leading modeling magazine in China, with a series of articles recounting in detail the building of almost every ship in his fleet. These formed the basis of his book "My 'Time Capsule Fleet'," which describes his deep understanding of scale modeling, especially for young people.

"Children in China today are obliged to follow a utilitarian education system that focuses on exams and not true capabilities," Wu says with concern. "In fact, a skillful scale modeler has the potential to become a successful engineer, designer or technician - professions that are truly needed."