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

1/43 Model Review: 1977 World Champion Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312T2B)

Background

The Ferrari 312T2 was raced in the 1976 season, which Niki Lauda dominated until his accident at the Nurburgring, and the car was retained for 1977. The car was developed throughout the season with many different configurations used. Carlos Reutemann won one race, and Niki Lauda won three races, securing the team both Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. But the car was not the quickest, winning due to better reliability, and Lauda quit the team before the end of the season and Gilles Villenueve completed the rest of the season.

Formula 1 Car Collection/Ixo

Not much choice of this car around in 1/43 scale. For a long time, this was a gap in my World Champions collection. I went for the Formula 1 Car Collection to fill in the gap mainly, and it's not bad - not great, but not bad. 

The same mould is used for the Altaya model and the La Storia/Vitesse releases. 

Score: 6/10

Mattel Elite

Mattel/Hot Wheels N5581

Ixo have been known to used the same moulds as Mattel, and so there's not too much point comparing this to what we've seen already. What is nice though is that Mattel have released a 6-wheeler version of the car that was tested but never raced.

Mattel/Hot Wheels V8380

Score: 6/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK404

Tameo TMK352

Tameo have created this beautiful Brazilian GP and their 6 wheeler test car, both with removable parts. Brilliant!
Score 10/10


For more from this series of World Champions, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/World Champions

1/43 Model Review: 1975 World Champion Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312T1)

Background

Ferrari brought in Luca Di Montezemolo to change the fortunes of the team, and a new driver in little known Niki Lauda started the 1974 season. Lauda was quick, securing more pole positions than anyone else, but his inexperience showed. He finished the season in fourth place. In 1975, the team introduced a new car, the 312T, and won four of five Grand Prix mid season when the car was raced. Lauda also became the only man to lap the old Nurburgring Nordschleife in under 7 minutes. At the final race of the year, Lauda secured his fifth victory to clinch his first of three World Championships.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430750012

It's a shame that there's so few Ferraris being produced by Minichamps due to licensing, but I'm glad they made this one. My only complaints stem with Lauda's helmet being way too orange, and the plastic rear wing assembly. They've applied nice chrome paint though. The car itself is a nice shape.
Score: 7/10

Quartzo

Quartzo 4031

Quartzo's car is also quite nice, but doesn't have quite as nice a finish as the Minichamps version. Still, it's not a bad alternative, and there are plenty of them to choose from.
Score: 6/10

Fujimi

Fujimi FJM1243023

I've not ventured into buying any Fujimi models yet, but they are slightly higher end in terms quality and price from the models above. Because of that, it is a better version than the Minichamps car and so deserves a higher score for me.Score: 9/10

Looksmart

Looksmart LSRC61

This Looksmart model was released in 2019 and its a thing of beauty, though I think this is the same as the Fujimi model. The helmet looks straight from a Spark car with the large transparent visor, which I'm not immediately that keen on. For me, I would have liked to see more definition on the rear end, there seems to have been more detail attempted on the Mattel Elite car than this, though the overall finish of this car is better. Still, these slight nitpicks aside, this is still a beautiful model.

Score: 9/10

Mattel Elite

Mattel Elite T6937

I've not been too big a fan of the mass produced Mattel/Hot Wheels cars, but having said that, there are a few highlights, and this one is really not bad at all. It's a shame the elite models don't come with a driver figure, but then again, the Hot Wheels driver figures weren't particularly great. In its place, you get a nicely detailed cockpit with a gear lever.

Score: 8/10

Altaya/Ixo

Altaya is another brand I'm not too familiar with, but I believe they sell Ferrari cars by IXO. If that's the case, then this model should share the same mould as the Mattel Elite car, however Mattel's version has more effort put into the finish of the livery and the decals. 

Score: 6/10

For more from this series of World Champions, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/World Champions