1/43 Model Review: 1996 Footwork/Arrows FA17 Hart

Background

Jackie Oliver sold the Footwork team to Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), and hired Jos Verstappen and promoted Ricardo Rosset from F3000. Walkinshaw threw all his effort quickly into the 1997 season, using the FA17 car as a test car for Bridgestone who would debut in 1997. The car was fairly competitive at the start of the year in the hands of Verstappen who finished 6th in Argentina, but reliability was poor. The team finished 9th in the Constructors' Championship and would compete as Arrows the following year.

Onyx

Onyx 284

Onyx 286

Onyx made the Footwork Arrows with Riccardo Rosset, but did not have the rights to produce Verstappen's helmet, so they released it with a red helmet driven by 'Dutch driver'. The model itself is not bad compared to previous Onyx models, coming in both the early season Footwork livery and the amended TWR livery. The proportions of each element of the car is nicely done, but is perhaps a bit let down by the slightly wonky finish - quality control perhaps not being Onyx's strong points and its variable as to how well your model is put together.
Score: 7/10

BBR

BBR Met60

The BBR version is quite rare to find and there are not too many photos online. Again it comes in two versions, from the Australian GP (although the one pictures has been converted to a later GP) and the San Marino GP where they ran the red and blue car. This is a nice model from BBR, as you would expect from them.
Score: 9/10


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