1/43 Model Review: 1996 Ferrari F310

Background

Reigning Double World Champion, Michael Schumacher made a big money move to Ferrari for the 1996 season, which led to him eventually winning 5 titles in a row. The John Barnard designed F310 was not on the level of Adrian Newey's Williams, and the F310 was nicknamed "the truck" for how it handled. However, Schumacher was able to bring home 3 victories, the first in the F310 in extremely wet conditions in Spain.

The car was unreliable particularly in the hands of Irvine having 8 consecutive retirements. The highlights of Irvine's season came at the opener at Melbourne where he finished in third place.

The car ran unique high sidepods, reminiscent of the 1992 car which attempted a double floor concept. I suppose it's a very early version of the sidepod undercut, similar to modern day cars. Ferrari also ran one of the highest side head protections out of all the teams.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430960002

Irvine's car comes in a bright red box rather than the original Minichamps chequered flag box. The model with the early season nose is a nice accurate model.

Minichamps 510964311

Schumacher's cars from 1996 are all a part of the Michael Schumacher Collection. This one, from the Spanish Grand Prix, is still quite a rare and valuable model, even though the model itself is pretty much the same as the standard car, though the number has moved from the rear wing to the winglet in front of the rear wheels. A nice detail is the slightly different helmet shape that Schumacher ran during the 1996 season - he used to always run his head to one side of the cockpit on the straights to help the air get into the airbox.

Minichamps 510964321

Ferrari finally returned to a high nose concept from the Canadian Grand Prix with the F310/2. I always liked the angled front wing supports, similar to the Minardi ones. This model also featured an onboard camera. It would have been nice to have the updated rear wing winglet. The high nose Ferrari brought Schumacher victories at the Belgian and Italian Grand Prix.
Score: 7/10

Ixo/La Storia/Altaya

The Ixo version of the low-nose F310 is not a bad one shape wise, but there have some off-putting versions, like the La Storia one having a red floor, and having the numbers on both the rear wing and the winglet, and not painting the area around the front suspension red. It also lacks much of a diffuser. It's a shame, as if they made a few small changes, it would be quite a nice model to collect.
Score: 6/10

BBR

BBR BG90

This BBR model is from the Australian GP. Besides the rear diffuser being quite small on this model as well, it's otherwise a very nice model. The front wing end plate could be a little larger, but of the 1996 models by BBR, this is one of the highlights for me.
Score: 9/10

BBR Met73

We also get the high-nose version from BBR from the Belgian GP. At both the Belgian and Italian Grand Prix where high speed and low drag set ups were required, Ferrari lost their winglets, running a more traditional rear wing endplate. My problem with the high nose version is that the nose is too long and so the front wing is too far in front of the rear wheels.
Score: 8/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK418

Tameo have produced this excellent model from the Spanish Grand Prix with excellent wet tyres. It has lovely proportions and excellent details throughout. The treatment of the upper rear wing elements is lovely too.
Score: 10/10

Tameo TMK431

The high-nose version is from the Italian Grand Prix, losing the upper element from the front wing and running a miniscule rear wing. It also has an updated diffuser. Again, hard to find any fault with this model, it's re-created the car perfectly for me.
Score: 10/10


To read more reviews from the 1996 season, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1996-model-review.html