GP4: 2021 Alfa Romeo liveries updated

This is Hega's 2021 Alfa Romeo C41. I helped with the Styrian GP livery earlier in the year, so I'm fairly familiar with the template. With a number of special liveries and a driver change, I thought I would come back and add a few liveries to the pack which has now been released. 

Dutch GP

Raikkonen was forced to miss the race because of isolation, so reserve driver Robert Kubica made a welcome return to the grid. He didn't do too badly at all. He raced at two events, firstly the Dutch GP, where I've updated some of the logos that kept moving around the car, and obviously Kubica's name, flag and the number 88. 

Italian GP

Kubica's second race was at the Italian GP, which coincided with Alfa's celebratory livery which featured more green. I really like how the special logo fits nicely on the nose. Giovinazzi had a great qualifying performance, but it was ruined by a bit of chaos in the second chicane that sent him to the back of the grid with a damaged car. 

Abu Dhabi GP

Sadly, Alfa Romeo are not going to retain either of their drivers. Popular veteran, Kimi Raikkonen will retire having made his debut way back in 2001. Even in his final year, he produced memorable moments on the radio, was in contention for the most overtakes, and had some stunning first laps that shows he's not lost any of his desire or skill. The message on the side of the car harks back to a radio message back in his Lotus days. 

Ferrari junior, Giovinazzi will also depart the grid. The popular Italian proved he was quick, but failed to have the stand out performances that ultimately made him a bit forgetable in the races. His car ran a different message of thanks on the side. 

Both cars ran #PanTorpeda raising awareness and help for this a six-year old Polish kid awaiting surgery. A fan of F1, his endearing picture of a rocket featured on the side of the car. 

I hope you enjoy this little update from Hega and me. 

GP4: 5 car liveries and 14 special helmets released

Wow it's been a long season and 22 races later and we've completed the season. Christmas is now around the corner, and I've got lots of goodies for you, all free as usual. Although, if you appreciate the work and you're feeling generous, there is a donate button.There's still more to do, but this is likely the last chance I'll get to do any modding before Christmas. 

Car Liveries

Williams FW43B

Williams FW43B 2021 Saudi Arabian GP livery

Williams FW43B 2021 Saudi Arabian GP livery

First up is the Williams livery from the Turkish GP and the Saudi Arabian GP. They ran the Turkish GP livery for most of the tail end of the season. Sadly, Frank Williams passed away on the week leading up to the inaugural race in Jeddah and all teams ran with Frank Williams tributes, a logo from the original team. The halo also includes a quote from the film Top Gun, a favourite of Frank's. 

I will update the Abu Dhabi livery soon, but until then, enjoy the Saudi Arabian GP livery. 

Alpine Liveries

Alpine Qatar 2021 GP livery

Alpine ran with a green rear end at the Saudi Arabian GP, which was to commemorate 100 races with Castrol as the fuel supplier, formerly known as Renault. This dates back to the 1997 season where Jacques Villeneuve won the title in a Williams powered by Renault at the time. 

This livery is included, as well as the US GP livery where they changed the main logos to Mandiant. 

It also includes the Abu Dhabi livery, where they retained the green, but put the Alpine logo back on it. It also includes 'El Plan' on the rear wing. 

The original work was done by Excalibur and Hega from RSCT, all I've done is amend the livery slightly. 

Special Helmets

I feel like there's a mountain of helmets yet to do, but there's quite a few completed so far. I'm not doing them in any particular order, generally I'm picking off the easier ones first. As always, I'm indebted to Jvinu for the shapes and templates available on his blog. It means these helmets are compatible with ACSPRH helmets in other games. 

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel 2021 Mexican GP helmet

Here's Seb's Mexican GP helmet. Because of the nature of the helmet, the majority of this helmet is created from photos rather than painted, it was the only way for me to be happy with how the helmet looked in the end.

Sebastian Vettel 2021 Saudi Arabian GP helmet

In Saudi Arabia, Vettel was promoting his own political message, supporting equal treatment of women, particularly in motorsports. The world map is now reminiscent of a train map, which has glow in the dark sections in. That's not exactly possible in GP4, but I have given them as shiny alpha channels as I could to try and replicate the effect. 

Sebastian Vettel 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Also included in this pack is the Abu Dhabi helmet, which features various phrases that is close to Vettel's heart.

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Valterri Bottas

Valterri Bottas 2021 Brazilian GP helmet

Here is Valterri's coffee inspired helmet, designed once more by his girlfriend. This helmet went through various iterations during its creation, in the end I found most of the source pictures, which I had to carefully place on a sparkly base. I'm quite pleased with the alpha channel and reflections on this helmet too. 

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Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc 2021 Saudi Arabian GP helmet

Charles ran an amended version of his white helmet in Saudi Arabia, adding several red triangular lines and other subtle changes. 

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George Russell

George Russell 2021 Saudi Arabian GP helmet

In addition to the car running tributes to Frank Williams, Russell ran this rather simple yet striking helmet design that looks great with the car. 
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Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo 2021 Qatar GP helmet

It was almost not worth doing a preview of this helmet, but it's the same as the Qatar GP only with updated logos on the visor strip. Other than that, the helmet is the same. 

Daniel Ricciardo 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

In Abu Dhabi, the shiny helmet became glittery. Quite a lot of the helmet has been re-coloured and the alpha layer is completely different. Both helmets are included in the pack. 
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Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz Jnr 2021 Abu Dhabi GP Helmet

Carlos began the season with a glittery version of his standard helmet, and he's done the same again at the season finale, except the sparkly bits are on the opposite parts of his helmet to the Bahrain version. Also the base colour of the helmet shines between purple, blue and even yellow in some shots. Out of all the sparkly helmets so far, this one is my personal favourite that I've created so far. 
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Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll 2021 Abu Dhabi GP 100th Race helmet

This was Lance Stroll's 100th GP and he ran with an amended helmet livery with a special 100 Races logo added. It's also a glittery helmet with the Maple Leaf and the Wings now a very reflective green. 
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Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunda 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet 'Thank you Honda'

I thought Yuki had finished updating his helmet for the year, but he rocked up at the final race with this helmet, with colours amended to reflect more of the Japanese red and white in tribute to Honda's final race in F1. All of Honda's era's in F1 are marked on the top strip. There's shots of two of his helmets painted side by side, and the grafitti is different on both of them. Anyway, out of all the grafitti designs he's worn all year, I'm happiest with how this one turned out in particular. 
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Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

I quietly released the first iteration of this helmet that Sir Lewis has worn at all the Middle-Eastern rounds, but the season finale saw him wear a sparkly version of it. Generally speaking, it's not gone well with drivers who have worn special helmet designs going into title deciders (Max's lid carried a small thank you to Honda on it, so that doesn't really count), so I guess that trend continues.  

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Antonio Giovinazzi

Antonio Giovinazzi 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

In the final race of the popular Italian, Antonio ran a tribute livery for his team-mate, Kimi Raikonnen, who is also leaving the team, in a design inspired by Kimi's 2007 Championship winning helmet. Nice, simple, effective and I certainly think it's Kimi's helmet before remembering it's actually Antonio's lid. 

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Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Kimi ran his first proper special helmet of the year, this one inspired by his first helmet some 20 years ago when he drove for Sauber. The helmet also carries a message of thanks on the rear. 

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I hope you enjoy this bumper release edition. Until the next post, I want to wish you all a very happy Christmas. 

GP4: Antonio Giovinazzi 2021 Italian GP Helmet

 

Antonio Giovinazzi 2021 Italian GP Helmet

I've finally caught up with some of the helmets from the past races, here's Giovinazzi's Italian GP helmet. It features the colours of his previous special helmets, but now in the form of rounded squares dotted around the helmet. I'm not the biggest fan of vomitting shapes onto a blank canvas type art, not unless there's a purpose and to me I can't see it in this one. Nevertheless, I do like the ITA on the sides. Although Antonio impressed in qualifying, it was all undone on the first lap when he cut across Carlos Sainz and spun and damaged his car. 

This is the second special helmet Giovinazzi has run, saving them for races in his home country. This pack includes both helmets. Antonio wears the Bell helmet and as always, this is painted on Jvinu's template for his shapes, grazie mille! 

Download | (mirror)

GP4: Antonio Giovinazzi Helmet - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP

Sorry there's not much from me lately, I've been having some issues with various wireless mice dying on me lately on my laptop so I've not been able to do much modding as I had hoped. But I did manage to throw this together, it's Antonio Giovinazzi's helmet he wore for the 2021 Emilia Romagna (Made in Italy) GP. 

I didn't realise until I started painting the top of the lid that I realised it's got three cars racing along, so the second version was very much making them look like cars when viewed from the top. Thankfully most the stripes are the same on both sides of the helmet, albeit different colours. 

I also realised I haven't been using the templates created by Jvinu which went along with his shapes, this painted on the Bell helmet, so my thanks goes out to this enduring work. 

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Download link | mirror link

1/43 Model Review: 2019 Alfa Romeo C38 (Spark & Minichamps)

Sauber were rebranded as Alfa Romeo, still can't get used to that, and were building on their momentum from last season when Charles Leclerc in particular scored strong results. New drivers in the form of former Ferrari champion Kimi Raikkonen as the experienced hand and benchmark for his teammate, Ferrari young driver, Antonio Giovinazzi. Though this was not the Italian's debut, it was his first full season as a full time driver for the team. Raikkonen was a consistent points scorer, nothing spectacular but he was always in the mix near the top of the midfield. But a run of poor races in the second half of the year has seen the team slide towards the rear of the midfield. Giovinazzi took a while to get going, made a few howlers, including binning the car on the last lap in Belgium. But he bounced back with a good points finish at the Italian Grand Prix and has been a match for Raikkonen for much of the second half of the season.

Both Spark and Minichamps released their cars within a week of each other, though Minichamps have only released Raikkonen's car, but we'll review and compare both in this post.

Spark S6073

Minichamps 417190007

As we've come to expect from both model manufacturers now, the quality is high, particularly as Minichamps have made this model from resin. Comparing both models, they both look very similar from front to back, the shapes looking on point with its dimensions and also squeezing in some of the intricate detail. The bargeboard areas are as complicated as they have ever been in F1, and both manufacturers have done a good job in recreating the detail on this Alfa. One thing I have noticed on the Spark cars is that the endplates are a little smaller than the Minichamps, and the rear wing a little bit smaller. I wouldn't have really noticed unless I'd put them side by side, but the Minichamps version does seem better proportioned from this angle. In terms of the paint and decals, there's not too much difference, owing to the simplicity of the Alfa livery.

Spark

Minichamps

As noted above, from this angle it's a little clearer that the Minichamps front wing is a little larger, or rather, the Spark version is a bit too small. Both have good detail on the nose and it's unique double inlets. Again the Minichamps suspension and vanes are a little fuller in size than the Spark, and again I think I prefer the Minichamps scaling. Nice detail on both sets of aerials and on the halo - masking the helmets that have Kimi's traditionally more complicated patterns. The sidepod opening and general shape of the sidepods are almost identical on these models, and Alfa continue with the segregated airbox arrangement we first saw on a Mercedes back in 2010. Again, both are well recreated. The t-wing on the Spark is tiny, and probably reflects the flimsiness of the real thing - if you ever see a real life onboard, these things are dancing around, it's a wonder they make any positive difference like that. With the fewer vanes on the rear wing endplates, it's nice that Minichamps have modelled real holes, whilst Spark's are just molded nicely, but is one solid structure. 

Spark

Minichamps

I do prefer the Minichamps tyres generally as well, but that's a very minor thing. It's good to see the detail of the lights on the rear wing endplates on both models. Overall, I think I do prefer the Minichamps model, but again, I wouldn't be particularly disappointed with the Spark model.

Spark score: 7/10
Minichamps score: 8/10

Special Editions

Minichamps 447190007

Minichamps have also done a limited edition of the Bahrain GP car.

Minichamps 417199007

Spark S6083

And the lovely Valentines day shakedown livery is produced by Spark and Minichamps 

Spark S6097

Spark S6098

Spark have released an Italian GP version of the Alfa, which features an Italian flag stripe along the top of the engine cover and rear wing end plates. Giovinazzi's car also comes with a pitboard wishing Juan Manuel Correa a speedy recovery after breaking his legs in the crash where Antoine Hubert was lost.