By William Chan | 04.01.2023 11:38
Minardi was one of the F1 privateer teams that had never won any grand prix and they were often missed because most of the attention are put on big name teams. Although the team often run with limited budget, Minardi team's strong determination made them on the F1 grid for almost 15 years. None of the major model manufacturers makes Minardi F1. So far I only see Modelers' M198, Club M's M197, Wolf's PS-01 and AMC M193. I found that M193 shape is pretty close to Lotus 107B and McLaren MP4/8. So I bought an AMC M193 decal and tried out the conversion. After more than 15 months of on and off building, the car is finally completed.
By Martin Klein | 01.25.2021 13:22
Having already built the ’76 version some years ago I always wondered why Tamiya did not issue the ’77 Monaco version because it is basically the same kit. Compared to the ’76 version it features a bigger and relocated front stabilizer, a cockpit cowling with the corresponding cut outs, a gurney flap on the nose cover and additional cooling ducts for the rear front wheels.
By Antonio Busciglio | 02.26.2020 12:37
In this article, I want to share how I detailed the 1/20 McLaren MP4/2 as ran (and won) the 1984 F1 championship. The car I wanted to reproduce is the Lauda’s, only driver to have won the championship after a retirement and a subsequent coming back to the races (notably, Lauda is also the only driver that won a world championship after receiving the last rites, after its terrible accident in 1976).
By Antonio Busciglio | 06.11.2018 15:27
The model nicely reproduces the shape of the car, but most of the details are missing, or oversimplified due to production and technology issues. On this basis, I decided to build this model adding as much detail as possible for my skills. As an additional difficulty, there are nearly no detail sets for this kit, so it would be necessary to add them from scratch. In particular, I used a large number of resin rivets and bolts, some turned bolts, leftover photoetched from my spare box and a lot of scratch-building. In this tutorial I’ll describe all the building process in detail. I hope you’ll enjoy building this model as I did.
By Antonio Busciglio | 02.23.2018 17:17
This tutorial aims at sharing the building process for the Tamiya kit. The Leyton House is a typical Tamiya kit of the nineties, with good quality and details, but with several fitting issues. I wanted to build a curbside model, focusing on the car shape and livery, rather than the inner mechanical details. It would be an almost OOB build, with modifications only when they were necessary to achieve a better fit and / or to increase the overall realism.
By Joachim Kutt | 11.12.2017 16:02
This build report is about superdetailing the 1/20 Tamiya kit and turning the Jordan 191 into Schumacher’s ride. The kit, a typical Tamiya product of the time, represents the Silverstone race version most closely, so some modifications were necessary besides adding the correct decals from Studio27.
By Martin Klein | 06.11.2017 10:54
The Model Factory Hiro kit is a full detail all metal version and most parts are packed in a plastic box so that they are not damaged during transport. MFH recently increased the price significantly but after inspecting the content of the kit I think the kit is definitely worth the money. The M2 is the last of the ’84 versions that has been released by MFH and so many parts are carried over from the early versions. The M2 was only raced in the last 3 races of the season in Italy (Monza), European GP (Nürburgring) and Portugal (Estoril). With the kit you can build the Monza version. (For the races in Portugal and at the Nürburgring the front wing was changed from the delta shape to a square version similar to the one used the following year on the 156/85)
By Antonio Busciglio | 04.03.2017 15:12
The Tamiya kit represents very well this icon of the 1988 season in its general shape but not regarding the mechanical parts and the cockpit area. As this is one of the F1s I like best, I decided to build it adding the superb Top Studio detail set (TS in the text) that includes resin and PE parts what makes novices to modelling feel fear. Besides, I’ve added several modifications and extra details which were necessary adding an extra effort. This article is to share my work with the hope that those who are less experienced than me, can build this model with some extra help.
By Antonio Busciglio | 10.04.2016 12:06
The car I wanted to build is the Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari 2007 in the splendid livery that was used in the second part of the season, where the Ferrari fluo red used in the previous races (and years) was replaced by a stunning, very characteristic (sort of) candy metallic red.
By Guy Golsteyn | 08.02.2016 11:52
Since it has become a bit quiet at Tamiya headquarters regarding the launch of new 1:20 F1 models, it is nice to see that manufacturers like Fujimi and Hasegawa have picked up the gauntlet releasing new F1 models on a regular base. The Hasegawa kit we will be using here is very well detailed, which means it is possible to build a fine, beautiful looking model building it 'straight from the box’.
By Antonio Busciglio | 05.10.2016 14:35
In this article I describe the work to superdetail the Tamiya Ferrari F1-2000, the car that brought back the driver championship in Maranello with Michael Schumacher, after 21 years from the last championship. The Tamiya kit is good, but the aim is to add as much details as possible, by using the Top Studio; super detail set, and antenna set, and other aftermarket details (photo-etched bolts, rivets and so on).
By Edgardo Azzollini | 05.29.2015 11:57
The model represents the Ferrari 312/68 (009), drove by Jacky Ickx, French GP 1968. This article has been written following the kit Instructions, showing pictures of each step, and it aims to be a guide for others that want to follow the same way.
By Antonio Busciglio | 04.01.2015 11:42
One of the most attractive aspects of modelling, in my opinion, is the detailing of mechanical parts, especially for old cars like this. So with this article I’ll share with the reader the work done in the nice Hasegawa Ferrari 312T2 1976 kit. The built model represents the car which Niki Lauda won the GP of Monaco with, over Scheckter and Depailler.
By Martin Klein | 01.07.2015 11:54
The 1/20 Tamiya kit provides full engine detail in contrast to the 1/24 version also available. Another difference between the two versions, is that the 1/20 kit also provides the decals for the 1978 version with red and white colour scheme (instead of blue) and so, I decided to build the 1978 version mainly because of the colour. One thing very difficult if you intend to detail such old kits is to find good references. So, I dived into my pile of old racing magazines and found a 1978 issue with a detailed development report of the car, containing several photos of car details.
By Guy Golsteyn | 01.01.2015 11:36
The Porsche 935 is one out of the seven 1:20 closed wheels kits that Tamiya has ever released. Of course there have been produced lots of 1:20 Formula 1 kits, to improve the detailing level in comparison to 1:24 cars, but as far as 1:20 tin top cars are concerned, Tamiya only produced four Porsches, two Fiat cars and one Toyota. The kit with reference number 20005 (equivalent to the fifth 1:20 scale kit) was this Porsche 935. The kit allows to build either the 1976 factory version with ‘Martini'-livery, or the 1977 customer version with ‘Jägermeister'-livery. Because I couldn’t make up my mind whether to build the factory version or the customer version, I purchased the kit twice so that both versions can be built.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 11.30.2014 12:46
The model represents the Ferrari 312/69 (0019), drove by Chris Amon (NZ), Monaco 1969, 1st practice on Thursday, May 15th 1969. This article has been written following the kit Instructions, showing pictures of each step, and it aims to be a guide for others that want to follow the same way.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 05.24.2014 12:01
This article aims at sharing with the reader, my experience building the model that represents the car which won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix in the hands of John Surtees. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the step by step pictures I’ve been taking, the article will be based on commenting them.
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2014 11:52
The Tamiya kit allows building two versions: the early version equipped with vertical oil coolers in the left sidepod and the later 79 version where the oil coolers had been rearranged in a similar (tilted) shape like the water radiator. The kit provides the coolers and corresponding fairings for both versions. The kit monocoque recreates the chassis numbers 2 to 4 (the first chassis had a different top section in front of the driver) so that it is possible to build all Lotus 79 versions raced from Belgium 1978 towards the end of that season. I decided to build the Belgium version where the Lotus 79 took its maiden victory in the hands of Mario Andretti who went on to win the 78 championship.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 02.28.2014 11:35
When I started to build the Lotus 72 and having the Ebbro and MFH kits, I decided to tackle the three versions of the same car used during 1970. The kits have several mistakes, in my opinion, but finally the relation price / result is good and once finished the model is a superb piece that represents well the Colin Chapman’s creation.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 01.28.2014 09:24
The Eagle first appeared in F1 racing at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix. The Weslake engine appeared in the car at the 1966 Italian GP. The chassis was of the “cigar tube” type, constructed from 90% aluminum alloy, with steel reinforcement. As the car was developed, titanium replaced steel for these reinforcement, and thanks to the lightweight achieved the 104 became the winning chassis with Gurney at the wheel. Besides the weight other changes were done on the car but these will be commented later in the article.
By William Chan | 11.20.2013 19:40
This is a 1990 Lotus 102 Lamborghini F1 contender. It was piloted by Warwick, McDonnely and Herbert in 1990 season. This car did not do well at all. Lotus also lost his title sponsor Camel after that year and it represented last year of seeing a full Camel yellow sponsored car. After that Camel went to sponsor Benetton and Williams. This project is inspired by Steffen's Lotus project. Steffen has cast a new pointed nose cone and made a home-made Alps-print decal. With all this, it makes this project possible. I decided to just do a curbside conversion from Tamiya 102B Lotus kit and forgot about engine details. It turned out to be a very fun project. No model manufacturer has ever released this Lotus 102 before, so I feel this is one unique project . Let's start to walk through what I experienced during the build As usual, there were frustration here and there, but with patience, they can be overcame.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 11.10.2013 11:06
This kit was announced as Schumacher’s last F1 car and represented the single-seater he raced in 2006 Brazil GP. Except for a few details, it’s a faithful replica. My intention was not to build an exact version that ran in one particular Grand Prix but to give my model as much detail as possible, in fact, I neither had the intention to show the model with the wings and cowling in place since I wanted to leave the engine with plenty of detail visible.
By Guy Golsteyn | 10.09.2013 11:34
I have been collecting all the 1:20 Tamiya F1 kits since Tamiya started producing them back in 1978, but the McLaren M23 was missing from my collection because I had the clever idea to trade the finished model for a bow and arrows once I finished it. So I have been looking for it since ages, until I discovered Ebay some 25 years later. I paid quite a high price to complete my collection with the one missing kit, but it was the very last that I needed, so what the heck.
By Martin Klein | 09.22.2013 11:25
The Tamiya Ligier is like all the early kits, basically a curbside one with a removable cockpit cowling. Before starting the kit, I was planning to detail it with removable front wing, sidepods and engine cover and with movable skirts, so the first step was to check my books and magazines looking for reference pictures. The result was pretty poor, so, I decided to surf the net, and this was a great success.
By Crescenzo Consolato | 08.24.2013 09:29
Since time ago, I had in mind to build this Tamiya kit with a higher level of detail trying to replicate the F189 which ran in the 1989 Portuguese GP. Although it’s widely known that the Tamiya kits come highly detailed offering a very good quality, I had to make several improvements to match this one to this Portuguese GP version. The reason is because this Tamiya kit represents a F189 of the early season.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 08.17.2013 10:10
Both MFH kits are very well done and well match the real cars. They could be mounted OOB, but some little changes could be done to improve these kits. There are few mistakes on painting scheme and, for D50 only, I had to make modification on the body-work to get the right GP version. Since kits are almost the same, mounting process is the same for both: any difference will be underlined on the article.
By Martin Klein | 08.06.2013 10:14
The 312T2 Monaco ’76 is Hasegawa’s the first 1/20 Formula 1 kit so I was very curious about the quality. After inspecting all parts the summary from my point of view is that Hasegawa did a magnificent job. All parts are very detailed and will result in a nice model without any modification. On the other hand the level of detail provided gives the opportunity to add more detail and thus realism and this is the path that I am going to follow.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 07.23.2013 11:42
I built this model as per instructions except when I used the Hobby Design detail set and some extra part. This article is devoted to novices so as to help them to build, which is perhaps, their first F1 model.
By William Chan | 07.07.2013 11:02
Jaguar R1 is 2000 F1 contender. Originally it was Stewarts racing and Jaguar took over the team in year 2000. Irvine was their number one driver. The car didn't do well at all that year, but the color schema of the car is exceptional. The model I build this time follows the schema in 00 Brazilian GP. Honestly, the conversion I made can only match 60% of the real car if you compare 1 on 1 by the real car photos. But in any case, it is still fun. The model was converted from a Tamiya McLaren MP 4/13 (kit 20046) using the Studio 27 jaguar decals.
By Guy Golsteyn | 05.24.2013 13:47
As a tribute to this great man, who is still very much missed, I decided to build all the 1:20 Senna kits in my stash, which will end up in a complete Senna collection of all the cars he ever drove since 1984, when his F1-carreer started. Since Fujimi now released two karts which he drove in 1981 and 1993, they will complete the line-up of F1-cars perfectly.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 03.27.2013 10:59
In 1968 McLaren Team left aside the BMR engine and started to use FORD Cosworth DFV, building the M7A. This new car was designed by Robin Herd (who left the team to join Cosworth Engineering and later – 1970 – founded March) and completed by Gordon Coppuck (the future designer of winning M23). My choice is SPA since Bruce McLaren drove to his first victory in a Grand Prix at Spa driving a car with his own name.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 02.28.2013 12:14
Once the model was finished, I realized about the importance of having good reference material and how this is essential to get good results. I would be glad to send everyone who needs some pictures. I used Tamiya acrylics for all the painting job except for the body. First of all, the grilles were washed with soapy water while flashes and mold marks were removed from parts.....
By William Chan | 02.18.2013 19:34
Modelers released the J199 10 years ago. I got this kit from HobbyLink Japan after seeing a great build from Alex Kung in Canada. I waited for 10 years before I built it. Unfortunately, the kit is for early season, so some modification were necessary.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 02.13.2013 09:45
It’s not crazy to say that for a lot of F1 fans, the 80's had the best cars, the best drivers and the best races in F1 history, an unforgettable epoch, and it’s extremely gratifying to see that Fujimi is offering model cars from that period. The Ferrari of this article was neither a champion nor one of the best cars manufactured by Maranello, but its beauty is worthy of a good work of modeling. The aim of this article is to share with the reader my experience in the construction of this Fujimi kit with the addition of some of my own improvements.
By Modeler Site | 02.08.2013 11:40
The famous "fan car," introduced at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix as a counter to the dominant ground effect Lotus 79. The BT46B generated an immense level of downforce by means of a fan, claimed to be for increased cooling, but which also extracted air from beneath the car. The car only raced once in this configuration in the Formula One World Championship, when Niki Lauda won the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp. The concept was declared illegal by the FIA before the car could race again. The BT46B therefore preserves a 100% winning record! This model represents the #1 car as driven by Niki Lauda at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 02.03.2013 10:59
In general this Fujimi kit is better than the Ferrari 248, well molded, detailed and fit of parts is pretty good It includes a PE set for all the seatbelts, decals are good and except for the wheels ones. they work well with Microsol. The only part that doesn’t have good fit is the motor cowling but it can be solved.
By Edgardo Azzollini | 01.19.2013 11:58
MFH made two versions of the P83 (K306 - ’67 Dutch GP and K307 – ’67 Belgian GP) and one for the P115 (K308 – ’67 Italian GP). It is important to remember that both, Stewart and Spence drove P83, while Stewart only had P115. Hiro did a great job with these two kits, which could be mounted OOB, but some little mistakes are still present so it would be better to correct them. This article will be focused on: P83/03 #14 – Jackie Stewart – 1967 Belgian GP and P115/01 #34 – Jackie Stewart – 1967 Italian GP. So, all features and improvements are intended to well match the cars of those GPs.
By Modeler Site | 01.10.2013 14:04
An all-new tooling of the world championship winning Red Bull Racing Renault RB6 Formula 1 car as driven by Mark Webber and two-time world champ (UPDATE: Now three-time world champ!) Sebastian Vettel during the 2010 Formula 1 season! This is the car he drove to his first championship title. Featuring engine (covered), cockpit, and chassis detail, the kit includes photo-etched metal parts and beautiful markings by Cartograf for the #5 and #6 cars.
By Modeler Site | 01.08.2013 10:30
By Guy Golsteyn | 11.15.2012 10:31
It has been a while since I built my last Formula one model car. But seeing how promising the Ebbro Lotus kit looked, I couldn’t resist building it as soon as I got my hands on a sample. It’s Ebbro’s first attempt to release a 1/20 F1 model kit, and it’s a winner right away!. I think you could use Tamiya kits as a standard, and Ebbro managed to reach the same level instantly. The kit was designed by an ex-employee of Tamiya, and of course it’s showed clearly.
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2012 12:01
After searching for reference pictures I decided to build the Monaco version. Being a Lauda fan since his early days in F1 this race was one of his few highlights that season qualifying on the second row. Unfortunately he retired after a race accident with D. Pironi. Lauda stepped out of F1 during practice of the penultimate season race (Canada) focusing on building up his airline.
By Guy Golsteyn | 04.01.2011 11:51
By Guy Golsteyn | 08.01.2010 17:33
To be able to build the 1976 Ensign, first you need to buy a kit of course. The problem is that none of the known manufacturers may offer anything that comes close to this subject. After a long search I found a 1/20 kit by the Brazilian manufacturer RTN Models. Don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of them before either.
By William Chan | 05.01.2010 17:41
F310B was a 1997 Ferrari F1 contender. It was very close to take away world championship from Jacque Villeneuve that year until the final nasty collision caused by Michael Schumacher. As a result, Schumacher was the one got thrown off the track and Villeneuve went on the win the driver championship. Later Schumacher was disqualified that year too. Very memorable year especially when Schumacher was fighting all points back and it made thing exciting.
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2010 10:54
As it seems Tamiya lost interest in 1/20 Formula 1 kits and so I am happy that Fujimi is now stepping into fill this gap. There are several versions available of the 126C2 including one with clear body cover. The reason to choose the Long beach version is that it has a unique rear wing configuration arranging 2 smaller wings covering the whole body width. Gilles Villeneuve raced this car to 3rd place in the ’82 Long Beach GP but was disqualified after Ken Tyrrell protested claiming the rear wing configuration illegal.
By Crescenzo Consolato | 04.01.2009 11:42
The first pictures I saw of the F2007 were really impressive, for me, one of the most beautiful machines Ferrari have accomplished for the F1, (together with the unsuccessful 1992 F92A) the new combination of colors looked fantastic and at once, the thought of building that model crossed my mind. I would never succumb to the temptation of purchasing one of those inaccurate and full of mistakes die cast replicas, available in the market.
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2008 11:40
By Davide Negretti | 07.01.2007 12:11
Second consecutive precious chance to verify the efforts of the firm Studio27, again a very recent release. It’s a multimedia kit, according to the Manufacturer standards, curbside version. As usual, the quality of any single component is not bad. The bodywork, made of grey resin, shows a fine surface, rather clean, no air bubble or distortions are present. Engraving is not perfect and somewhat on the soft side. Shape seems well captured.
By William Chan | 09.01.2006 14:45
Mclaren MP4/8 is one of the most beautiful Mclaren ever made. It raced in 93 and it was piloted by Senna. Eventhough it was powered by under-powered Ford V8 engine, Senna took this machine with 5 victories. One of the most memorable race has to be Donington Park 93 where Senna mastered his way out in first lap over everyone else.
By William Chan | 07.01.2005 22:49
Here William offers us a large article, step by step, with pictures during the whole building and a commentary about what we are looking, he calls this a diary, but I think that’s the state of the art of the patience to take pictures. Thanks for the time and effort William spent on writing this article for Modeler Site.
By William Chan | 05.01.2004 19:10
By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini | 02.01.2003 14:16
The models of this wonderful series were made by the Japanese firm NITTO, between 1984 and 1986. They were very detailed and came with several building options; they included photoetch, springs, metal antennas and several interchangeable parts.Step In 1986 the publication of SF3D came to an end due to some disagreements between the...
By John Horst
By Davide Negretti
By Davide Negretti
By Davide Negretti
By Martin Klein
The kit has the usual quality known from Iritani and is a mixture of resin, metal and plastic parts. The main body, the wings and the engine air duct are made of resin, the engine and rear suspension are plastic parts (from 70s Tamiya kits). The wheel rims are turned metal parts and the tyres are rubber parts. Together with white metal parts for the wheel centres and front suspension, steel wire for further suspension elements and etched brass sheet metal parts for wing end plates and other car details the kit provides all ingredients for a great Formula 1 kit of the 70s.
By Alessandro Prini
By Crescenzo Consolato
By Alessandro Prini
By Manuel Rotsch
By Sean Grainger
By Alessandro Prini
By Alessandro Prini
By Paolo Benacci
By Tony Allen
This is my first attempt to build a model by Studio 27 and I have to say my first impression was not very encouraging. On opening the box of a very expensive kit I found a very well moulded body with fine engraving of panels and fixings. The photoetch set again was very sharp as were the decals, but from there on things went downhill. The white metal castings I thought were crude in the extreme, suspension, engine detail exhausts etc were poor. However as this was a model for a friend I did my best.
By Akiyoshi Kishino
By Jose Antonio Solbes
By William Chan
This is one of many popular Ferrari F1 racers. Michael Schumacher won his third championship with this famous F1-2000. Tamiya has done an excellent job in producing this famous F1 racer. I have taken 7 months to build this Ferrari....
By William Chan
By Sean Fischbach
Sam sent us new pictures of the model he had submitted in 2003, here the updated article.
By John Horst
By Martin Klein
By Manuel Rotsch
By Maurizio Bonello
By Manuel Rotsch
By Crescenzo Consolato
By Manuel Rotsch
"Golden Balls" was the title of an article appearing in the January 2002 issue of F1 Racing magazine as part of their historic vehicle racing review of the 1979 Arrows A2. The pictures were inspirational. This car ran part of the 1979 season but results were disappointing (2 points) consequently any video or photos are scarce. The Arrows 2 and the new Alfa Romeo team featured the large round nose which was actually opposite to the aerodynamic design of such teams as Ferrari, Williams, Lotus etc. This short rounded style nose would appear later in the 1980”s; so perhaps they were ahead of their time! The twin chassis concept was also very unique. The Warsteiner advertising on the gold paint job was impressive. With all these radically unique features this was definitely a car I wanted to build...
By Dennis Schuldt
By Marco Peretti
By Javier Alba
By Jens Martin
By Martin Klein
By Marco Peretti
By Emilio Wada
By Crescenzo Consolato
By Johnson Tang
By Michael Wong
The Honda RA272 was a formula racing car that won the Mexican Grand Prix in 1965 which is driven by Richie Ginther which making it be the first Japanese racing car winning the grand prix. After building my first completed Formula racing car, the Tamiya Honda MP4/4, I decided to build another formula racing car and it is RA272. I started this project in mid of October and finished it in 2 weeks time....
By William Chan
By Antonio Dourado
By John Horst
By Alessandro Prini
By Alessandro Prini
By Massimiliano Piacentini
By Martin Klein
By Manuel Rotsch
By Paolo Benacci
By Paolo Benacci
By Javier Alba
By Paolo Benacci
By Martin Klein
By Jens Martin
More than ten years later when building Formula-1 model cars became a hobby for me, one of the first 1/20 kits I ever built was Tamyia’s Williams FW07. During the last two years I have built models of the four follow up cars Williams produced and raced up until 1983. This gave me the idea to write a small story about the Williams cars of this era and the models.
By Alessandro Prini
By Jose I. Hernandez Diez
My enthusiasm for the F1 led me, since very young, to build my own kits but in 1/43 scale. As soon as the Japanese brand Model Factory Hiro introduced in the market the Ferrari F10, I decided to build it. I had a great deal of respect for it, since it was more complex than the kits I used to build. Painting, is the 90% of work here, and any mistake would damage my job. From the different versions available: Turkey, German, Japan, Australia and Korea, I chose this last one: ref #K-277.
By Roland NG
Mclaren Mercedes MP4/13, a historical F1 car that won the 1998 F1 season. Mika Hakkinen together with David Coulthard are the two drivers that drove the car that year and helped Mclaren to win their first championship since Ayrton Senna’s era. With great amount of testing which induce great improvements, Mclaren had developed a beautiful and aerodynamically powerful racing machine. This is definitely one of the favourite cars of all time because it just looks really sexy on the design. It’s been always my dream of making a detailed MP4/13 and finally I got the chance not too long ago. Well, this is the process of detailed MP4/13 in the making.
By John Horst
By Jose Antonio Solbes
By Javier Alba
By Manuel Rotsch
By Christof Bircher
By William Chan
By Jens Martin
By Paolo Benacci