「當一架在書中或天上才能看到的飛機，變成可以拿在手上把玩的小模型，無論它的結構是精緻還是粗糙，都會有無限的想像空間。」模型世界雖然袖珍，卻蘊含無比精采，模型愛好者徐衛基，憑著深厚的空軍背景知識及精湛技巧，製作無數的擬真軍事模型，舉凡飛機、戰車等武器裝備，在他的巧手組裝下，彷彿有了新的生命。
Reported by De-wei Lee
Translated by Warren King
Wei-ji Xu, a plastic scale model hobbyist, has been having a scale modeling mind in his early age while trying to disassemble the parts of electrical appliance to find out what it is all about inside. He first fell in love with making scale models in his junior high on an occasion when he saw a Grumman F-14 Tomcat model kit on a display shelf at a stationary store. He bought this plastic scale model kit without hesitation, trying to build the model airplane kit in no time. Even though the first-ever fighter jet model made by him left something to be desired, he has already been infatuated with plastic scale model building since the first encounter.
While studying at the R.O.C. Air Force Academy, Wei-ji Xu joined the plastic model club with the support from his fellow classmates. During which, he kept putting his mind on specializing the techniques of scale modeling. Along with his talent in art and craft, he learned all the way on his own and accumulated experiences via the assembly instructions along with each scale model kit he has ever built. While in service, his incredibly rewarding hobby of scale model building has never and ever been ceased. Most of his leisure time, he stayed at his quarter assembling the plastic scale model kits. In those days, quite a lot of pilots came to him due to his intricate model making skills, asking for building a scale model of the fighter jet they had flown on a daily basis as a way to honor their military career.
Wei-ji Xu has gained a lot of experience in scale model making. To faithfully present the service background for each miniature military airplane ever built, he has been doing quite a bit of research with careful examination, including looking up some historical documents. Taking the ever victorious American Volunteer Group (AVG, nicknamed Flying Tigers) for instance, he said people in those days were so impressed with the iconic Shark Mouth painted on the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk piloted by the heroic AVG Flying Tigers pilots. Later generations only remember the P-40, a ground-attack aircraft, with three Chinese characters Tai-Gong-Ling (Jiang Zi-ya’s military orders) painted on its nose, which had once been piloted by then-Flying Tigers' ace pilot General Xu, Hua-jiang. However, people seldom knew there was still another P-40 with three Chinese characters Tie-Luo-Han (Iron Warrior Monk) painted on its nose, which had once been flown by another flying ace. Any aircraft ever defending the ROC territorial airspace should be remembered, said Wei-ji Xu. Through scale model making, he hopes to provide a different way to record and remember the story for those military aircraft that have ever made history.
