Use Your Imagination and Build Your Own World
- Oct 10, 2015
- 3 min read
By Xiaojie Lu
There are two worlds in our life – one is the reality we have to face and sometimes struggle with, and the other is the world of our imagination. I believe that everyone, in their head, has a place that is totally different from what other people see. They build that world based on their imagination or interests, and it then becomes a place for them to relax and find a getaway from pressures. Activities such as reading, playing video games, cooking, and watching movies are all efficient methods for people to escape from reality for a while and to immerse in the world of their imagination.
One of my favorite ways to create my own world is building models. I started playing with Lego when I was a kid and I still enjoy it now. I also love building hardboard models, which is more challenging. I’ve built battle ships, planes and buildings. As far as Legos are concerned, it is not just simply stacking blocks together; is more like a work of art. Before you start putting these blocks and miniature people together, you need to have a general picture in your head of what you are going to build. For example, I would think of a picture of a vacation villa near the sea and how I would like to decorate the house before I start. I also would imagine the personalities of the people living in the house in order to decide what style they want their house to have. Sometimes you can also draw a draft of what you want to build on paper, and then start building based on the “blueprint”. Many people believe that playing with Legos can develop kids’ intelligence and memory. In my opinion, Lego is also a proper tool and a way to relax for people of all ages.
Unlike building with Lego blocks, where you do not need to change the shape of the blocks and polish them, hardboard or plastic models require more equipment such as scissors, glue, tape and a knife. The picture I below is a hardboard pirate ship that I recently built. It has more small pieces and different kinds of materials including cloth, paper and plastic components. Before starting, you need to read the instruction carefully. Each piece has a number on it, and the instructions tell you which piece goes with which because a lot of them look very similar and it is very easy to mix them up with each other. When you take the wooden pieces off the hardboard, make sure not to rip the parts since they are very fragile. The most important part is that you need to do exactly what the instructions say and do not miss or skip any steps. For the ship, you need to build the inside elements (the deck and masts) first, then work on the larger parts (the body of the ship). If you build the body first and then try to put the small parts inside, it will be very hard to fit them in and you will probably break the small pieces.
The hardest part for me is building the bottom of the ship. There are several pieces of long rails that you need to stabilize on both sides of the ship and you need to connect them with the notches of the body of the ship. Some pieces do not fit so you have to polish them until they are the same size. However, even if you finally stabilized them all in the notches, they might come off when you move the ship. If this happens, you need to use glue or tape to make them stay tight. This part took a while because I had to adjust the pieces several times until they fit perfectly.
The last step is the most interesting one because you can already see the whole structure of the ship and the only thing left is decorating it. You can choose sails with skulls, or you can design your own sails. There are also some small paper pirates that you can place on the deck.
In fact, you can put whatever you want on your pirate ship and set sail on an adventure!
Okay, now Bon Voyage!
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