1/43 Model Review: 1998 World Champion Mika Hakkinen (McLaren MP4/13 Mercedes)

Background

Incredibly, 1998 was the last season McLaren have won a Constructors' Championship. Considering they had the best car in 1999 and arguably 2007, 2008 and 2012, for a team that has been so used to running at the front end, it has a poor conversion rate for titles (since the early 90s).

The 1998 F1 Season saw a host of new technical regulations aimed at slowing the cars down that saw most prominently narrow track cars and grooved tyres. It provided new designer, Adrian Newey, with an opportunity to shine, and the car was nearly a second quicker than anyone else in qualifying at the first two races. After winning four of the first six Grand Prix, Schumacher and Ferrari began to fight back, albeit too late to meaningfully challenge for the Championship, though he did manage to keep the fight alive till the final race. Hakkinen won eight Grand Prix, to his team-mate's one victory, to deservedly take his first Drivers' World Championship, and the team the Constructors' World Championship.

For me this is an iconic car, but there's also not many models of this car as you will see below, just one offering from McLaren (in various boxes) and a couple from Tameo.

Minichamps

Minichamps 530984308

I wasn't a fan of the change to narrow track cars for 1998, I'm not sure anyone was, but I think the prettiest car of that year was this McLaren, designed of course by Adrian Newey. Minichamps have created a nice model. The thing that bugs me is the red on the nose, there's way too much of it. I can kind of forgive the airbox that looks like it's just stuck on as though they forgot about it until it was too late. It's a shame, because the rest of the model is quite nice.

Minichamps 402989901

The twin car set, that comes with Hakkinen's MP4/14 car, features exactly the same car as the standard model above, so there's not much more to be said.

Minichamps 436980008

Several years later, the car was announced to be released in the World Champions Collection, I was looking forward to the car being updated, but I was disappointed to find that it is the same model, not a single thing has been changed as far as I can tell.

Minichamps

The model comes in other packaging, the team version with tobacco sponsorship factory applied.
Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK261

Tameo TMK269

You can get this car in McLaren's papaya orange which the team ran in pre-season testing and the race edition is based on the Japanese GP where Hakkinen sealed the championship from Schumacher. This is a fabulous model from Tameo, it really captures the essence of the car for me, the shape is perfect, the beauty is in the simplicity and elegance of the shapes, and the details are nicely done too.
Score: 10/10

GP4: 1996 Tyrrell 024 walkaround part 3

This part 3 of my walkaround as we begin to look at some of the details of the 1996 Tyrrell 024 shaped by me, mapped by Soulbringer and painted by Kedy89.

The chassis was quite a reasonable chassis, but the Yamaha engine was under powered and it was not particularly reliable.

Here is a shot of the rear of the cockpit, the side head protection and the rollover bar/engine cover. In terms of modelling, it's one of my favourites in terms of getting the shape and proportions correct, as well as getting flat surfaces merged by smooth curved normals. Essentially, how the light reflects off the body of the car around this region is 'natural'.

Here is a wireframe shot of the front of the sidepods. It's not always the easiest to join the sidepod onto the main body of the car. The top of the sidepod joins to the side of the cockpit and it's not easy to get good looking normals here. Then as the sidepod curves around it joins to the floor at the bottom. You have to watch the curve on the floor is in line with the curve on the top of the sidepod from the top-down view, as the regulations state that from underneath the car, you shouldn't be able to see any bodywork.

Moving to the rear of the sidepods, and there is a small undercut, and a lip on the top. The shape of the top of the sidepod is quite curved, essentially to try and make it as much like a wing as possible. You can see how it is more of a bump than a smooth curve.

Looking from the top down at the rear of the engine cover, you can see the lip and how it works with the winglet. Like the 1995 car, the gearbox housing is quite small, with this bulge at the rear to house it. In terms of managing normals, you have the top of the sidepod, the remains of the side head protection, the rollover bar and the bump all to integrate neatly together. You can see where I've put lots of parallel polies to try and make sure the normals of one part doesn't effect the normals on the others.

From here you can see that the rear suspension also has it's unique coverings, working with the rear of the engine cover to work with the diffuser. It's not new, with the Ligier and Benetton having similar solutions in 1996 and previous years.

The rear of the Tyrrell is quite neat and simple, compared to some of the other 1996 contenders at least. At the time, I always liked the look of the double pylons supporting the upper rear wing.

Looking at the internals of the car, Kedy89 has done a nice job with the textures. I was experimenting with the engine cylinders at the time, of the midfield teams they were all unique, and you can see how bulky the Yamaha ones were. I didn't want to throw too many polygons at it at the time, but if I was to revisit it, I would probably be a bit more generous to make it look a bit smoother.

I didn't want to go overboard with detail at the rear of the car, but enough to make it interesting and the main parts of the rear suspension, the gearbox housing and the engines and radiators being included.

I found a video of a conversion of the car straight into F1C to compare with previous posts.

And a video I found of my car in its native GP4.

GP4: 1996 Tyrrell 024 walkaround part 2

This part 2 of my walkaround as we begin to look at some of the details of the 1996 Tyrrell 024 shaped by me, mapped by Soulbringer and painted by Kedy89.

The model post can be found here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2019/03/143-model-review-1996-tyrrell-024-yamaha.html

The front wing endplate is quite a standard version on the 1996 grid. The front wing supports are the widest ones on the grid. After pioneering the high nose, the Tyrrell team had returned to a low nose solution for several years, but they developed this nicely sleek nose and monocoque for 1996.

There's a slight bump on the top of the monocoque where the nose cone joins to the main chassis. The team started the season with a normal barge board just in front of the sidepods, but developed a smaller version just behind the front wing to work in conjunction with the upper suspension housing.

Here is a wireframe shot of the front of this car. The underside of the monocoque narrows as it reaches the floor.

Here is a shot of the cockpit from the drivers point of view. Kedy89 has done a nice job with the textures, highlighting some of the 3D details of the cockpit. I wonder why they put the aerial off centre, I don't know if that is more distracting or less distracting than if it was central.


I managed to find this conversion to Automoblista. At least for this one, putting on the early season suspension they amended the textures and removed the shadow. But there are things that you can tell are signs that it's my car with some updates, like my low-poly aerials and mirrors from the cockpit view.

GP4: 1996 Tyrrell 024 walkaround part 1

The 1996 Tyrrell 024 was probably one of my favourite looking cars from 1996. It was a little sad to see so few sponsors on the mostly white car, but I did enjoy the Japanese GP livery in particular with the increased tobacco advertising. It gave me a particular impetus to make this car as nice as I could make it, little did I know at the time that it would be one of my last cars I would create for the 1996 mod.

This car, like the Ligier, was mapped by Soulbringer and painted by Kedy89 and I am truly appreciative that these great artists were able to help out on one of my cars, I'm really pleased with the end result of this car.

Harvey Postlethwaite, the team's head designer, was churning out some interesting designs and ideas for the cash-strapped team, from innovating the high noses in 1990, to swapping the front and rear wheels in Hockenheim practice 1995, to the X-wings in 1997.

The 1995 car had a particularly small rear end, and that concept is further refined in the 1996 car. The sidepod concept had changed from the 1995 car, with the upper element being quite curved, which wasn't easy to get right. Most of the sidepods you see are usually flat rather than slightly tapered, being lower on the outer edges and higher when it meets the engine cover.

One of the stand out things that appeared on the Tyrrell 024 mid-season was the suspension coverings over the top wishbones, both front and rear. The concept remains unique to this car, not being seen on any other car since.

With the car being mostly white in the early part of the season, it was important to make the car as smooth as possible, as any blemishes will show up more obviously. In fact in the shot above, the top of the sidepods just under the winglets show a couple of shadows that are a result of me not quite having the time to fix it. But looking at the smoothness of the engine cover and the side head protection, that's an area that I'm quite pleased with from a normals perspective.

If I remember correctly, the 1993 Tyrrell was already mostly completed by the time I started out on this car, so it was interesting when I got to the internal parts whether there were any transferable parts, mostly using it as a reference for places where I did not have particularly good photos of. In the end, I think the 1997 car was being used in the BOSS series and there were some good shots of the internals from that car, so that was what I used as a reference for this car mainly.

Once again, here is a clip of ta converted version of my car going around Monaco in rFactor 2. What's interesting to me about this conversion is that they put the normal suspension on, but they didn't take away the shadow from the textures.

1/43 Model Review: 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve (Williams FW19 Renault)

Background

Following a dominant 1996 season for the Williams team, and the departure of World Champion Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve sailed to his only Drivers' World Championship title, and the Constructors title for 1997. Joined by Heinz Harold Frentzen, he showed signs of promise but more often than not struggled in the car. Villeneuve thrived and took 7 wins that season. The season finale saw Villeneuve battle with Schumacher in the Ferrari for the title, which saw the famous scenes of Villeneuve coming alongside the Ferrari on worn tyres to pass. Schumacher to attempt to crash him out, but failed and was disqualified from the season as a result of his actions. This would also be the last Williams to be designed by Adrian Newey and the last with a works Renault engine (of that era) after this partnership dominated the early-mid 90's.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430970093

I don't usually feature show cars, to be honest, I don't really see the point of them. Very occasionally you would see last year's car with the current livery on in testing, but it was rare, and though they came out months before the new shape, I was happy to wait. So here's the Williams FW18 in the 1997 colours.

Minichamps 430970003

Minichamps 430970003

Anyway, onto the main car and you could get a couple of variations of livery, though it was not advertised as such and come under the same model number. Essentially the early season livery with Hype on the sidepods and the barcodes was based on previous seasons non-tobacco livery, though it never raced. The Snap-On on the bargeboards appeared at the British GP, the team running R.? on the sidepods, the engine-cover and the rear wing, though on this model it only appeared on the sidepod. So really, none of these liveries ever raced.

Minichamps 402969701

The two car World Champions set features an updated FW19 with more or less how it ran at the French GP, though it had ? on the rear wing rather than barcodes.

Minichamps 436970003

The original World Champions Collection came with tobacco sponsorship applied and with the livery from the last race, the European GP, when Villeneuve was crowned champion. At the race, Schumacher was leading but he struggled with tyre wear. Shortly after the pitstops, Villeneuve knew he had an opportunity to pass and made a clean pass up the inside into the hairpin. Schumacher closed the door and bumped into Villeneuves' sidepods, knocking the German into the gravel trap and out of the race. Villeneuve managed to nurse his car to the finish line, allowing both McLarens to overtake, finishing third.

Minichamps 436970003

The model was re-released in the proper British GP livery. I'm not sure why Minichamps decided to release this version, it was never really that popular to begin with, the FW19's being traded very cheaply.

Adrian Newey recently said that the air intake above the driver's head was developed so that the bottom no longer attached to the headrest, as it was causing some issues on the FW18, and that he took inspiration off an inlet from a turbo-prop plane engine when flying. This relatively simple innovation is still seen on cars today. The sculpted winglets in front of the rear wheels, not on the Minichamps model, also sparked a frenzy in other teams rushing to accommodate it on their cars for the 1998 season.

The model itself I quite liked, and though it's still in diecast, I think it's still pretty reasonable.
Score: 7/10

Onyx

Onyx X311

With the success of the Michael Schumacher, I'm guessing, drivers started having their own collections and signing exclusive deals. Interestingly, Villeneuve had his own picture on the cardboard inlay of the Minichamps, but is simply known as 'Canadian Driver' on the Onyx model. Frentzen however appeared in Onyx Collection, but only had a dark blue helmet known as 'German Driver' on the Minichamps car.

Onyx had fallen well behind Minichamps in terms of model quality by this time and though their small collection of 1997 cars were an improvement on their previous offerings, these would be the last Onyx F1 cars we see produced. The rollover bar is a bit high and the rear wing too low, and the nose a little bulky, but the rest of the car is fairly reasonably proportioned.

My only venture into 1/18 scale cars with with the Onyx version of this car, and I was quite impressed by it, so it was a shame that the 1/43 version didn't quite have the same proportions.
Score: 5/10

Ixo/Formula 1 Car Collection

The Ixo car has been released in various promotions, the latest being as part of the Formula 1 Car Collection series. The nose doesn't really resemble the real thing, being too high and not particularly well sculpted. The airbox extends too far forward, but it does have the sculpted winglets on the sidepods. I'm not sure why the decals aren't straight above the bargeboards. So it's not a particularly great offering from Ixo in my opinion.
Score: 5/10

RBA

The RBA car is another budget version available on the market, but I prefer the Ixo and the Onyx versions. The general shape is kind of all there, and the proportions are kind of OK. If you squint, you would recognise it, but it's not particularly well defined or detailed.
Score: 4/10

BBR

The first thing that jumps out to me is how far out the rear the rear wing is. I don't think the nose is particularly good, the front wing endplate lacks any definition, the rollover bar air intake is too big, and the sidepods seem generally a bit too low. So, as you can tell, I'm not particularly impressed by this BBR car, considering I've seen some excellent models made by them before.

Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK240

Tameo TMK251

Tameo's excellent models comes in early and late season versions, from the Brazilian and European GP. The car is either too squat or it's a bit too long, either way it seems a little out of proportion. Other than that, it's another lovely model and the best model of this car in this scale.
Score: 8/10

I did like the Spanish and Monaco GP cars where they ran inverted colours on the rear wing, with a dark blue rear wing with white text, it's a shame there aren't any models with that particular livery.

1/43 Model Review: 1995 World Champion Michael Schumacher (Benetton B195 Renault)

Background

After a controversial 1994 season, Schumacher dominated the 1995 season on merit in the Benetton who had scooped  up the standard setting Renault engine. Despite the Williams team producing a better car than his Benetton B195, Schumacher drove incredibly well all season to claim his second Drivers' World Championship, his first Championship double.

The full raft of technical changes that started in 1994 after the San Marino Grand Prix were taking shape in the 1995 season, with the cars estimated to be around 5 seconds a lap slower than the previous year. Stepped floors, lower rear wings, smaller front wings, smaller engines, raised sidepods, more open and higher cockpits, and crash testing was introduced.

More detail on the Grand Prix races are featured in the many different Minichamps versions available.

Minichamps

Michael Schumacher Collection

Brazilian GP

Minichamps 510954301

The season began in Brazil, where Hill started in pole position and led from the start. Hill looked the faster and was on course for victory but was halted by suspension failure pitching him into spin, leaving Schumacher to pick up the win, the first of 9 wins that year - a joint record at the time with Nigel Mansell. After the race, Schumacher and Coulthard, who finished 2nd, were disqualified for fuel irregularites, but both were reinstated following an appeal, though the teams did not earn any Constructor Championship points.

The earliest version of the B195 comes from the season opener at Brazil. The main shape is generally good, one of the better models of that era. With Minichamps sponsoring the team with its various brands on the front wing, we see Minichamps release many versions of the car. The original helmet is quite big, and the decals just in front of the sidepod opening stop short too early showing a bit too much dark blue.

French GP

Minichamps 510954311

It's strange that Minichamps did not do many other early season versions. By now, Schumacher was leading the Championship, and despite Hill taking pole position, Schumacher eased to victory taking an 11 point lead in the title fight.

The next version released was this French GP version. This is the rarest Michael Schumacher Collection cars because Minichamps noticed that the rollover bar had changed to a traditional smooth one rather than the stepped one from the early season. Though not perfect, it has become one of the most valuable models that I know of, even today.
Score: 6/10

British GP

Minichamps 510954312

Schumacher was leading the race with Hill close behind, when the Englishman lunged up the inside and took the two of them out of the race. The British GP was where Schumacher's team mate, Herbert, would take his first every F1 victory.

The British GP saw the revised a updated model with the primary change being the engine cover. New decals are much better and the additional winglets on the rear wing endplates. The driver's helmet is also smaller and better shaped and proportioned. In the race, Hill made a very ambitious move that took the both of them out, 1995 being a low point in Hill's career.

German GP

Minichamps 510954313

The German was coming home to a hero's welcome and he delivered his first home victory, the first German to win his home race, in front of his adoring fans, the grandstands a sea of Benetton blue. Though Hill secured pole and lead away at the start, a broken driveshaft caused him to spin at the beginning of the second lap.

The German GP car is practically the same as the British GP version bar the Minichamps branding on the front wing. No changes to the shape to cater for the low downforce, low drag cars, but at least Minichamps made two different shapes for the year.

Belgian GP

Minichamps 510954314

The track at Spa is liable to provide mixed weather conditions and it resulted in a slightly topsy-turvy grid with a Ferrari one-two at the front, Hill down in 8th and Schumacher in 16th. This was one of the great come-back drives in F1 history from Schumacher. As the Ferrari's retired and Herbert slow in the dry, runaway leader Coulthard also retired. Hill stopped for wet tyres when it rained and was 6 seconds a lap quicker than the German who stayed out on slicks, now in the lead. Schumacher defended valiantly, though some of his moves were too aggressive, angering Hill. Schumacher didn't technically break any rules, but clarifications were made after this race and he was given a suspended race ban. Schumacher went wide, allowing Hill past, but the track dried and Hill had to pit again. Another rain downpour came and the Safety Car was deployed, with Schumacher and Hill battling at the front until Hill had to serve a 10 second stop-go penalty for pit-lane speeding.

The Belgian GP car is almost as rare and as valuable as the French GP car, presumably because of the German's great drive.

Minichamps 510954315

Italian GP
Coulthard spun out on the warm up lap from pole position (was it this or the Australian GP crash on pit entry the most embarrassing moment for Coulthard in 1995?) but a red flag after a second lap collision gave him a second chance. Hill, for the second time this year, ran into the back of Schumacher when lapping a backmarker and the two retired, with Taki Inoue (famous for being taken out by a Safety Car in Monaco and being run over by an ambulance in Hungary) in the Footwork later taking the blame for sliding in front of Hill causing him to take avoiding action. Alesi led from Berger when Jean's camera fell off his car and broke Bergers car (I think 1995 was the funniest year!). Then Alesi's brakes caught fire with seven laps to go, allowing Herbert through to his second victory of the year.

The Italian GP car, again does not come in low downforce configuration, but is more of the same as the previous cars really.

Minichamps 510954316

European GP
He started the European GP in third on a damp track, but Alesi in the Ferrari started on slick tyres and was leading into the closing stages of the race. But he was caught up in a bit of traffic which allowed Schumacher to catch up to the Ferrari, dramatically taking the lead with 2 laps remaining.

The European GP car has the distinct feature as the only car in this series to come with wet tyres. It was rare in those days for Minichamps to do wet tyre shod cars, but this car was not particularly valuable in the market.

Minichamps 510954317

Australian GP
Schumacher's final race for Benetton came at the Australian Grand Prix, which he struggled to match the pace of the Williams who were streaking ahead. But after his pit-stop, he came across Jean Alesi's Ferrari, and the two tangled clumsily into the hairpin and caused both cars to eventually retire, a sad end to such a triumphant year where he equalled Mansell's win tally of 9 in a season.

The Australian GP car was one of the first models I ever got, and though I didn't know it at the time, was one of the slightly more valuable ones.

French GP ...  again

Minichamps 510954318

The re-released French GP car on the new shape was not particularly valuable. The French GP did not allow alcohol advertising, nor tobacco advertising, so it ran Drive Alkoholfrei on the sidepods instead.
Score: 6/10

Other Releases

Canadian GP

Minichamps 431952701

My favourite version of the B195 from Minichamps is the early season model with Alesi on the rollover bar. It was Alesi's first and only GP victory for the popular French-Sicilian. Schumacher had earned a huge lead, but suffered from the commentators curse when he came in for a lengthy pitstop due to a gearbox fault that also required a new steering wheel. This dropped him back allowing Alesi in the Ferrari to come through for victory and both Jordans in 2nd and 3rd, the first double podium for that team. Alesi's car stopped on the inlap and he hitched a lift on the back of Schumacher's Benetton. Schumacher's hand is raised as well as Alesi waving to the fans.

World Champion - based on the French GP

Minichamps 403950101

The car was updated recently, again disappointingly it was on the old diecast model, but the decals have been heavily revised and comes with a new driver figure. With so many B195s out already, this was hardly a must have, and with two version of the French GP car already available, it wasn't necessary to get another one, though this car came as part of the new Schumacher collection.

World Champion (Driver getting out of the car) - based on the French GP

Minichamps 400950101

Another World Champion edition, again based on the French GP, but this time in Minichamps branding. This comes with Schumacher climbing out of his Benetton and his steering wheel on top of the monocoque.
Score: 7/10

UT Models

This isnt' really a model, but it was a nice novelty when UT models came out with a couple of 1995 F1 cars in pull back toy form. You can get a Sauber, Ferrari or Williams as an alternative if I remember correctly. For a toy, this is really not bad in terms of shape, and there's nothing particularly lacking on the decals either, so this is a surprisingly good toy.
Score: 5/10

Spark

Spark S4775

With the disappointment that Minichamps would not update the shape of their B195, when Spark announced they would be applying their skills to their own version, I was quite excited to see it. Sadly I was disappointed the product. As mentioned on other Spark 1990s models, the wheels are oversized, and I'm not a big fan of their helmets. The car does have nice details that were missing from the Minichamps car. The bodylines are nice, including the fuel caps, the little engine inlet by the Renault logo is a nice touch, and the wings are of good quality as well as the nice suspension arms.

It's not a bad model, but the rollover bar, I was hoping for more of a triangular shape and it is too big, the nose could be more defined, the lower rear wing doesn't have the right curvature. It's hard to put into words what I find wrong with it, but I think the lack of definition in the overall shape is what lets it down for me. Let me put a comparison up of the real thing and the model from similar angles.

So sadly, perhaps my expectation was too high, but this was a real let down for me, a season where Schumacher proved his excellence and his rightful claim to being World Champion that many don't give him enough credit for in 1994, probably because of the Adelaide clash, perhaps because of allegations of cheating, but the FIA were particularly harsh and singled out the team several times in 1994 that lead to many lost points, so the Championship was artificially closer than it should have been. Anyway, 1995 was a triumph for Benetton, Schumacher and Renault and for me it deserves a better model. The late season car is also available but only with Johnny Herbert, the winner of the British GP.
Score: 7/10

BBR

BBR MET34

BBR's kit models come with an early season and a late season version. These models are brilliant, the kind of quality I was hoping for from Spark. The nose is much more accurate, and the rolloever bars are nicely shaped and has lots of lovely detail.
Score: 9/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK206

Slightly more impressive than BBR's excellent offering is Tameo's version of the B195 which is absolutely beautiful and a great representation of the championship winning car. I believe there is a Spanish GP version and this, from the Japanese GP.

Score: 10/10