1/43 Model Review: 1986 World Champion Alain Prost (McLaren MP4/2C TAG)

Background

The MP4/2 had already won the previous two years' championships and with the updated MP4/2C, and ex-champion Keke Rosberg joined Prost at McLaren. Rosberg struggled with the setup and running out of fuel however, whilst the Williams team were now the team to beat. Prost cleverly took big points finishes whilst Piquet and Mansell took points off each other in their own battle. Coming to Australia, Mansell was 7 points ahead of Prost, with Piquet a further 2 behind. Rosberg stormed in front, but a puncture on lap 62 caused him to retire. Mansell dramatically suffered the same fate as Rosberg and Prost went on to win the race and his second Drivers' World Championship.

Minichamps

Minichamps 530864301

Like the other MP4/2 cars by Minichamps, this is quite an early edition which is number 42 in the McLaren Collection. For its time, I think this is a lovely model. 

Minichamps 436860001

The car was re-released as part of the World Champions Collection and comes with some revised parts. Most of the changes look great, but to me, the rear wing seems to be placed much further back and that doesn't look quite right to me. Though it lacks some of the fine details of some of the newer models, it is still a nice model in its own right.

Score: 7/10

Solido

Solido 14003

I'm quite impressed with this Solido car, and it's very reasonably priced too. It's comparable in quality to the Minichamps version and, though it doesn't come with a driver figure, it does have quite nice cockpit details. 

Score: 7/10

Altaya/RBA

As you'd expect with the RBA cars, these are low budget, low detail cars, so it's never really going to get particularly good scores. It's recognisable enough, but it looks more like a toy than a model. 

Score: 5/10

Spark

Spark Mc-ES-1622-06

This McLaren is part of the 50th Anniversary collection from Spark from the Japanese Euro Sports store. Like the 1985 version, there are only 200 of these made, so these are pretty rare or very expensive. Spark have done a great job on this car. Again the shape is simple but the details in the cockpit, the brakes and at the rear of the car are all beautifully done. The driver figure is good, and the helmet is OK, but I'm still not a fan of the visor. 

Score: 9/10

1/43 Model Review: 1984 World Champion Niki Lauda (McLaren MP4/2 TAG)

Background

Niki Lauda was joined by Alain Prost, who narrowly missed out on the 1983 Championship, at McLaren for the 1984 season. John Barnard designed the MP4/2, heavily based on the MP4/1E, and used the TAG-Porsche V6 engine. The car featured carbon brakes and excellent fuel consumption, along with two technically minded and tactical drivers, the team dominated the 1984 season, with 12 wins between them, the highest of for a single team at that time. Though Prost took 7 victories to Lauda's 5, it was Lauda who would take his third World Championship by the closest margin in F1 history, only half a point.

The MP4/2 would go on to take another 2 titles (is that a spoiler? it was 33 years ago) and begin a period of domination by McLaren where, besides 1987, they won every championship til 1991.

Minichamps

Minichamps

Originally, Minichamps released the MP4/2 as part of the McLaren collection back in the late 90s. The model itself is pretty basic, but has a nice blend of good proportions and nice decals.
Score: 6/10

Minichamps 436840008

A World Champions collection of the model was also released in the mid-noughties, coming with an updated driver and helmet. I'm not a big fan of the mid-noughties Minichamps helmets, but the driver figure is much better. Other than that, I've not noticed any further changes. It is quite a rare collectible model.
Score: 6/10

Atlas

Here's the Atlas version of the MP4/2. I'm not a great fan of Atlas cars, but I've seen them do much worse, but despite its cheap prices, I'm still not really tempted to get this one.

Score: 6/10

True Scale Models

TSM TSM12SS4

But if you do have cash to spend, this is the one to get and there's only 999 of them. A lovely resin model from TSM which captures the car beautifully for me. My only slight complaint, and it is a tiny complaint, is that more of the rear wing should be white.

Score: 9/10

For  more of the World Champions series, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20Champions