GP4: 1996 McLaren MP4/11 walkaround part 3

This is the third installment of my McLaren MP4/11 walkaround of the GP4 car originally created by Eugenio Faria and completed by me, painted by Celinho with help from Soulbringer and Quickslick.
After Hakkinen's huge accident at Adelaide in the final Grand Prix weekend of 1995, thankfully the Finn was able to take part in the 1996 season, losing none of his speed. The accident brought Mika and Ron Dennis closer together, with Coulthard claiming that Mika garnered favourable support due to their closer relationship, in part due to the accident in Adelaide.

You can see the bodylines go past some interesting curves around the car, all of which takes time to do and get right. I added the very small fin at the top of the rollover bar, something similar to the shark fins of recent years. Eugenio did some good work on the smooth radiator outlet at the rear of the sidepod, I simply resized it to match the proportions of the real car. The winglets from the rear wing are also nicely done.

You can see how the winglet is attached to the engine cover, whilst the rest of the endplate is attached to the rear wing assembly. The rear suspension and diffuser area was all added by me.

Here is a clearer shot of the rear of the car with the diffuser. The side fences of the diffuser are quite high, ensuring the air from the rear of the coke bottle shape is not disturbed by the opening for the insides of the car.

The car has a relatively simple internals, with the radiators, airbox, engine and cylinders/exhaust and rear suspension elements. The standard texture mapping means the engine is still a Renault albeit mirrored. You can see a non-textured version below:

So that's it, the 1996 McLaren MP4/11 for GP4 done. You can find this car as part of the GP4 1996 mod and converted in other games.

You can compare the car against the 1/43 model here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2019/03/143-model-review-1996-mclaren-mp411.html

GP4: 1996 McLaren MP4/11 walkaround part 2

The McLaren MP4/11 was powered by the Mercedes engine, their second season with their new partners that would last through to 2014 and enjoy many competitive seasons. But 1996 was a rebuilding period. New driver, David Coulthard revealed in the recent F1 podcast that he signed for McLaren just before Christmas of 1994, having signed for Williams earlier the same day for 1995.

We must get back to talking about the car as we delve into the details on this GP4 creation.

The front wing is Eugenio's work and on the endplate I added the indent near the bottom. It's quite a simple and basic wing that McLaren ran for the season, there's not even a bend on the front plane. The nose on the 1996 is much more sleek and slimmer than the 1995 car, with a nice single keel solution to mount the front lower suspension wishbones.

You can see from the wireframe how the top of the nose has lots of polygons to make the smooth shape, which towards the front of the car is quite flat. I added the 3D body lines on the nose and the suspension cover. I also added suspension wishbone connection points to the bespoke suspension.

McLaren's side headrest solution was unique to them in that it creates a channel either side of the rollover bar. Getting the body lines around this smooth shape was difficult. The mirrors are asymmetrical, presumably to reduce the turbulent air generated, by having the smooth shape facing the direction of the oncoming airflow.

Moving into the cockpit, and I was able to find some reasonably good photos to re-create the dashboard and some of the buttons along each side.

In case you missed it, here was part 1 https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2019/04/gp4-1996-mclaren-mp411-walkaround-part-1.html.

Stay tuned for part 3 tomorrow.

GP4: 1996 McLaren MP4/11 walkaround part 1

The first 1996 car ever released in GP4 was Eugenio's McLaren, which included a Monaco GP version with the winglet on the engine cover. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of that car, and I can't find any screenshots of it neither. If I remember correctly, he was working on an updated version years later but was not able to complete it, and so I stepped in and took over. I found this picture lying around, where the white parts of the car were all of Eugenio's work.

If you look carefully and compare the above shot to the end results below, you can see I did quite a lot of modification to it. It's always quicker when there was quite a lot of the car there already. I started by doing quite a bit of work on changing proportions to be more consistent with my other 1996 cars and also with photos as a base. After I was happy with the main shape and proportions, I got to work adding details to it.

This is another car painted by Celinho and this would be the final Marlboro liveried McLaren, having raced in the red and white scheme since the early 1970s.

There was a B spec version of the car that appeared late on in the season, the most notable change from the outside is that the front wing supports are angled rather than straight. This small change is included in the 1996 mod, although the mid-wing was never added. The camera also seems to have gone missing.

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how the shape worked out in the end. My thanks go to the contributors, with Quickslick and Soulbringer having an input too. Eugenio did a great job on the main shape and it was a pleasure to bring this car to completion.

I can't remember exactly, but this was certainly among one of the first 1996 cars that I was involved with completed after the Forti and Minardi. I added suspension (common parts from other 1996 cars) the cockpit, the engine and gearbox, the mirrors and added details such as the hump on the rollover bar and the body lines.

I also did quite a bit of work in smoothing out the normals. If you look at the first shot, there's lots of odd shadows on the flat surfaces and where the light bounces off in an odd way. This is an area I felt I helped improve.

In the next post, we will begin to look at some of the detailed work that's gone into this car.

Here's the car in rfactor 2.

1/43 Model Review: 1996 McLaren MP4/11 Mercedes

Background

After a near death crash in the final race of 1995, Mika Hakkinen recovered to take part in the 1996 season alongside David Coulthard who came from Williams, a relationship that would last 6 years. It was the last McLaren to wear red and white Marlboro sponsorship, which decided to back the Scuderia Ferrari team fully, after over 20 years in the classic yet simple livery. Hakkinen was able to score four podiums during the season, leading the team to fourth in the Constructors' Championship

In pre-season testing, Alain Prost drove the car, as he had done for the previous 3 seasons since retiring from Williams. In 1997, he would be busy running his own team.

Whilst the final result may have been a disappointment for the McLaren team, it would be a positive sign of progress in their quest to return to the front of the grid.

Minichamps

Minichamps 530964308

As was usual for McLaren cars, they would be released under the McLaren Collection rather than in the regular box. 

Minichamps B66005905

I did also get a Mercedes box edition, but it's unchanged standard car. Proportions are nicely modelled on this Minichamps car, there's nothing spectacular about this model and there's nothing particularly wrong with it either. I do like the dayglo red/orange however. 

Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK211

I bought this Tameo car already built, but the rear wing obviously doesn't quite sit right. Putting that down to how it was put together than Tameo's kit itself, this is a lovely version of the car from the Australian Grand Prix. 

Tameo TMK225

The McLaren MP4/11B was introduced at Silverstone, which propelled the car up the grid. Outwardly, there was very little difference, the nose being a bit longer, and the front wing supports angled. a slightly more moulded headrest to direct air more cleanly over the helmet into the airbox, and they also played with front suspension covering the steering arm and foremost upper suspension arm. This model is from the Hungarian GP where they also added the mid-wing back onto the car - first seen on the 1995 MP4/10 and at the 1996 Monaco GP.

To the model itself, it is just a step up from the nice Minichamps car, adding nice details to the cockpit, the fuel cap, onboard cameras, stickers on the wheels, suspension mounting points, pitot tubes, and all of this adds up to a very nice model indeed. I also like their treatment of the sidepod outlet at the rear of the sidepod, it has a nice curve to it. The rollover hoop is slightly better on the Minichamps and BBR, the Tameo having a smoother curve - and the front of the cockpit (by the mirrors) doesn't come down far enough. But these small nitpicks hardly detract from the rest of the model.
Score: 9/10

BBR

BBR Met62

BBR's offering is also from the Australian Grand Prix. Like Tameo, there are more details than the Minichamps version, to add to its nice base proportions. My only complaint is that the nose cone is too long and the front wing too far away from the front tyres.
Score: 8/10

To read more reviews from the 1996 season, click here: 

https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1996-model-review.html