1/43 Model Review: 1994 Benetton B194 Ford

Background

The controversial Benetton B194 brought the team and Schumacher their first Drivers’ Championship, though they would have to wait a further year before winning their first Constructors’ Championship. With big regulation changes, mostly in the name of banning ‘driver aids’, Benetton were ahead of the game in preparing for the new rules in early 1993. And it proved a stroke of genius as other teams were caught unawares of the threat from Benetton on the championship. This car will always be remembered for alleged cheating, with traction control on the car (though “never used”), taking an element out of the refuelling rig (which led to Verstappen’s fiery pitstop) and the over-warn plank at the Belgian GP (blamed on a spin). Schumacher, though brilliant as demonstrated at the Spanish Grand Prix whilst being stuck in 5^th gear for two-thirds of the race found enough pace to finish second, had many major mistakes, including overtaking pole-sitter Hill on the warm-up lap at the British Grand Prix and ignoring the black flag, to crashing at the title-deciding Australian Grand Prix and then taking Damon Hill out with a damaged car. Schumacher had three team-mates for the year, but none of them came close to Schumacher in qualifying, often over a second a lap off his pace.

You can read a bit more about the traction control controversy and Max Mosley's thoughts on that Adelaide crash here: www.msn.com - source taken from Ibrar Malik's book, 1994 The Untold Story which you can purchase here 1994 F1 Book. 

Onyx

Onyx 204

Onyx produced a number of cars in the early 1990’s and they were cheap and cheerful. The car seemed to bear more resemblance to the B193B, and Schumacher’s helmet reversed the red and the yellow parts of the flag (presumably since Minichamps owned the rights). The car was diecast with plastic parts and it was simply but effective, but I won’t judge the car too harshly as there were worse cars from the 1994 grid produced by Onyx.

Onyx released a late season version, which had updated barge boards and the wheel rims were painted white with the blue/green stripe. They also corrected Schumacher’s helmet.
Score: 4/10

Minichamps

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 11

Minichamps 510944305

The Minichamps offering from 1994 was a much more accurate representation than the Onyx car of the same era. The shape seems to be based around the early season Brazil version which had the smaller rear wing and the large barge board, but the livery (in this version) is based on the non-tobacco French GP. Schumacher won the first 5 Grand Prix and dominated the first half of the season in this car.

Minichamps released two other liveries on the same shape…
Score: 7/10

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 12 – German GP

Minichamps 510944325

Back then, there were no shape changes to the cars for the different versions. The tail end of the 1994 season saw lots of changes to cars when mid-season regulations were brought in following the tragic events earlier in the season. At least Onyx put some new barge-boards, but Minichamps have done a nice job on the livery.
Score: 7/10

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 12 – Japanese GP (World Champion)

Minichamps 510944335

The Japanese Grand Prix version brought the increased Mild Seven blue around the barge board area and white wheels with the green stripe (though there are some versions with the black rims and a brown helmet visor). There were black decals to represent the holes that were made mandatory in the engine cover. But the front and rear wings had changed considerably since the beginning of the season.
Score: 6/10

Johnny Herbert’s Australian GP outing was also released by Minichamps, with a helmet that bore very little resemblance to the real thing.

Michael Schumacher World Champion (Monaco GP)

Minichamps 413940005

Over 20 years later, Minichamps released a couple of versions of the B194. Sadly it was only an updated version of the same 1990’s diecast mould. However it came with improved decals, new wheels and tyres, new mirrors, new driver and helmet figure and new front and rear wings with an on-board camera. This gave the car much more detail and accuracy to the Monaco GP, a weekend in which Schumacher dominated. Unfortunately, they put the wrong rims on this car.
Score: 8/10

Michael Schumacher 25^th Anniversary (World Champion/Australian GP)

Minichamps 447941605

In 2018, Minichamps finally released a resin version of the B194 in the late season configuration. With it came different versions on low production runs from the British, German, Belgian, Japanese and Australian GP, a world Champion version based on the Australian GP, as well as Mick Schumacher’s demonstration run at the 2017 Belgian GP. Oddly, the German GP rear wing seems to stick out further to the rear, and they did not create the skinny low-downforce rear wing levels. They also created a Monaco GP version, however this inaccurately portrays the diffuser. Despite my nitpicking, it is nice to receive this new model from Minichamps and to me, it is the best around at the time of writing. J.J. Lehto (Monaco GP where he finished 7th), Jos Verstappen (German GP when he was on fire & Hungary GP his 1^st podium) and Johnny Herbert (Australian GP where he retired) also get new versions.

Schumacher @ Japanese GP

Verstappen @ Hungarian GP

Verstappen @ British GP

Schumacher @ Monaco GP

Mick Schumacher @ 2017 Belgian GP

Score: 9/10

Formula 1 Car Collection / Ixo

The modern-day ‘cheap and cheerful’ version from the Formula 1 Car Collection gave us a welcomed  mid-season version of the B194 featuring correct front and rear wings and bargeboards. I believe this is based on the French GP. I think the curvature of the top of the sidepods and the rollover bar are better than the 1990’s offering from Onyx and Minichamps. The wheel rim shape is wrong, but little to complain about on this model at the price. 
Score: 7/10

Spark

Johnny Herbert Australian GP

Spark S4484

Before Minichamps released their resin model, Spark released their version. The car has lovely details, around the cockpit, the holes in the engine cover, brake ducts and also the correct version of the front and rear wings and bargeboards. For me, Spark have made the wheels a little too big and the helmets a little too small and the rear wing also sits way too high. I love the details, but I don’t think the overall proportions feel quite right.
Score: 6/10

Michael Schumacher Monaco GP

Spark S4481

I was looking forward to the Monaco GP version with the double-stacked rear wing. Unfortunately, they retro-fitted early season wings onto a late season car, so there are indents on the engine cover where there were no holes, and the diffuser is also wrong. It’s a real shame because I love the detail around the cockpit, where Schumacher ran three speedometers, and the different aerials.
Score: 5/10

BBR

BBR Met10

BBR produced this lovely version from the Brazilian Grand Prix. Because there are so few pictures of this, and I've never owned it, I'm going to refrain from giving this full marks.  
Score: 9/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK179

Tameo's early season car comes from the Spanish Grand Prix, which I've already raved about. The model is lovely, running the red number 5. My only slight nit-pick over this is that the front wing is too far forward and the barge-boards are a little too big.

Score: 8/10

Tameo TMK191

Tameo's late season version from the Australian Grand Prix was also brilliantly done. Impressive details matched with nice proportions. Same issue with the nose and the barge-boards from the Spanish GP version, but that rear wing is bang on. 

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

For me, I prefer the latest offerings from Minichamps in the 25^th Anniversary Collection in terms of the models themselves. It’s hard to pick a Grand Prix in the latter half of the year that celebrates Schumacher’s brilliance, in Australia he crashed into Damon, in Japan he finished 2^nd to an excellent drive from Hill (though it does come with wet tyres), in Belgium he was disqualified, in Germany he was doing wonders keeping up with the V12 Ferrari’s when his engine gave up, in Britain he was black flagged and disqualified. He was brilliant in Monaco, but I can’t help looking at the mistakes once I know that they are there.

For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html
This is also featured in the World Champions Model Reviews, for more click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/f1-world-champions.html