07 June 2007

Handbuilt Kit

1/43 Tameo Kit Ferrari F1-2000 Australian GP
Michael Schumacher


I purchased this kit at ebay over a year ago. I asked Jojo Nicolas to do this model for me. It took him quite some time before finishing this model. These are the pics that he sent me:








Here is the finished model:







For such a small kit, the details are nice. No plastic parts whatsoever. The kit is made of white metal and photo etched parts. The only non-metal part in this kit are the tyres, which are made of rubber. Jojo did a decent job, but not really extraordinary. Still, I think the model looks ok, but it could have been much much better.

Villeneuve's Championship Car








1/43 Minichamps World Champion edition
Williams FW19 Jacques Villeneuve


Minichamps released this model a few years ago, along with some Rothmans diecast cars. Rothmans threatened to sue Minichamps if they don't pull out this model from the market. Minichamps did not pull this out because it has long been released. However, they did pull out some of the models that they released like the Porsche 956 Le mans 1982 Boxed set.




The Williams FW19 was the car with which the Williams Formula One team used to compete in the 1997 Formula One season. It was driven by Jacques Villeneuve, who was in his second year with the team, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who moved from Sauber to replace the dropped 1996 champion, Damon Hill.

The car was a logical development of the extremely successful FW18, which had comfortably won both titles in 1996. It was also the last Williams chassis to receive input from designer Adrian Newey, who left the team to join McLaren during the season, and the last to run a works Renault engine before the French marque's temporary withdrawal. However, 1997 was more difficult for Williams, as they faced a tough, season-long challenge from Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. After a controversial collision between Villeneuve and Schumacher in the season finale, the Canadian took the Drivers' Championship, with the team claiming the Constructors' Championship at the previous race. Frentzen, by contrast, had a disappointing year and could win only one race to Villeneuve's seven. The team eventually scored 123 points to win the Constructors' Championship.

05 June 2007

Alonso's R23






Minichamps 1/43 Renault R23 Team Edition
Fernando Alonso


Minichamps released the ordinary version of this car and the team edition. Both cars look identical to each other except for the paint in the camera and the nice packaging of the team edition. I bought this diecast from a seller in the U.S. who regularly converts F1 cars to have tobacco branding. Everything was ok, except for the minor decal lifting on the rear wing that I myself had to fix.
Its nice to look at the R23 with Mild Seven decals, exactly how it raced in Malaysia, where Fernando had his first podium finish and in the Hungaroring, where Fernando Alonso had his first win.



The Renault R23 is a Formula One car that competed in the 2003 Formula One season. The driver lineup were Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso who replaced Jenson Button who left for British American Racing.

The team started at pole at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. Later the team won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, the first time Renault had won a Grand Prix since the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix. Renault was innovative during this period producing non-standard designs such as the 111° 10-cylinder engine for the 2003 RS23 which was designed to effectively lower the center of gravity of the engine and thus improve the car's handling. This eventually proved too unreliable and heavy, so Renault returned to a more conventional development route. Eventually the team finished fourth in the construtors championship with 88 points.