Boxart (Tyrrell 020)
Boxart (Footwork FA13)
More of classic Tamiya Racing Mini F1 line review on the roll! Today will be featuring The Braun Tyrrell Honda 020 and Footwork FA13 Mugen Honda! Firstly, Mini F1 is a series of mini racing cars introduced by Tamiya in December, 1991. It was introduced during the Formula One racing boom in the same year. The Mini-F cars in this review were based on licensed Formula One cars from the 1991 and 1992 seasons. They have a rear-wheel-drive drivetrain rather than four-wheel-drive. Exclusive to this line-up is the Mini-F Chassis, the series was discontinued 3 years after its introduction. In this review, both kit comes with their regular Tamiya Mini 4WD styled boxart which the contents came up preassembled. Yes, we need to assemble them as well as adding stickers and slight detailings. Braun Tyrrell Honda 020 or better known as Tyrrell 020 was a Formula One racing car designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and George Ryton for Tyrrell Racing and raced during the 1991 season. The 020 was driven by Satoru Nakajima who brought the Honda engine contract with him and also by Stefano Modena. It’s best result was a second place by Modena in the Canadian Grand Prix. Tyrrell scored 12 points to finish 6th in the Constructors’ Championship with half the points scored by Modena’s 2nd in Canada, the kit’s box artwork indicated the car belongs to Satoru Nakajima and the kit’s product numbering is 28003 and was released in 1991 season. While Footwork FA13 Mugen Honda or short as Footwork FA13 was a Formula One car used by the Footwork Arrows team in the 1992 Formula One season. It was powered by the Mugen Honda V10 engine. The FA13 chassis, designed by Alan Jenkins, was a conventional, straightforward car and was driven by Michele Alboreto and Aguri Suzuki. Alboreto scored four times, 5th in both the Spanish and San Marino Grands Prix and 6th in both the Brazilian and Portuguese Grands Prix, the team finishing with six points and equal 7th with Ligier in the Constructors’ Championship. Once again, the kit’s box artwork suggested the car was owned by Aguri Suzuki and the kit’s product numbering is 28006 and was released in 1992 season. Well, pretty understandable since Tamiya is a Japanese company they also wanted to promote Japanese racers. Although, both of that racers are not that well known for many people but, they actually got their own achievements though not using this teams cars. However, in this review both kits are not using any stickers but, again my request to Archyd to add waterslide decals instead. Alright, time to unbox this!
Contents 01
Contents 02
Since both kits were already fully assembled so, the contents only consists the fully assembled and customized kit. Both 020 and FA13 comes with 1 body shell, 1 Mini F1 chassis and rear wing for locking the body shell into the chassis.
Model Kit Preview
Front, Back, & 2 Side View
Upper (with/without body shell) & Bottom View
Rear View 01
Side Front View
Rear View 02
Mini-F Chassis
While it shares the same low-height, open-wheel body design with the other Mini-F cars, 020 also has the raised nose but that slightly lower than the Benetton Ford B192’s body shell. The body shell is quite similar to Williams FW14 one which a bit slim mainly around the side fairings which having battery cover, while roll structure is a bit broader, while the rear wing’s corner tip was done to be blocky but, not as sharp as FW14 version and there’s 2 extra vertical lines. The front panel part was made to have standard but sleek build while the front wing is raised for it’s raised nose. And the cockpit part has the non-removable driver figurine except the head part. The overall body shell color was originally colored dark gray but, Archyd repaint them into gun metal color, added with white lines with red trim waterslide decal and black for several part details. It was also added various sponsors waterslide decals, including PIAA, Braun, Epson, Essilor, Nippon Shinpan, Calbee, Shell and Honda. The body shell was added with glossy finishing making the kit looking realistic, and it was equipped with the gun metal, medium diameter Mini-F wheels paired with the Mini-F slick tires. It’s a standard wheelset given to every Mini F1 releases. Without the body shell, the Mini-F Chassis features a one-piece chassis frame, with the usual rear-motor and mid-batteries setup, but longer compared to a Mini 4WD chassis. The underbody of the chassis is mostly flat, with the front wheels and front driveshaft being supports by the fixed, sandwich frame. It has the rear-wheel-drive drivetrain, with gearing is similar to the bigger 1/10 scale R/C F1 cars. Unlike Mini 4WD you can clearly see the whole gears attached that is, standard motor with light green pinion gear and light gray colored spur gear but, like Mini 4WD you can also change the gear setup and make any kinds of tune up whatever you wish. The motor was mounted onto the rear with the motor mount. The chassis’body attachment method is similar to those in Mini 4WD cars, with the Mini-F car’s rear spoiler doubling as a body catcher. In the original release, it came with bronze colored terminal set as standard.
Model Kit Preview
Front, Back, & 2 Side View
Upper (with/without body shell) & Bottom View
Rear View 01
Side Front View
Rear View 02
Mini-F Chassis
FA13 also features the low-height, open-wheel body design that is mostly shared with other Mini-F cars that were based on Formula One cars, though it has the raised nose but, it’s not really much compared to both B192 and 020. The body shell’s shape is a bit different compared to my other Mini F1 cars which it’s side fairings are made to be round shape, while the roll structure is pretty similar build to 020 but, less protruding, it’s rear wing was shaped quite standard blocky similar to 020 minus the 2 extra vertical lines. The front panel part’s shape is quite similar to FW14 one which have convex build but, slimmer and longer, while the front wing is slightly raised for it’s nose. The interesting part of FA13’s front wing is there’s an extra wall near the wing’s wall, which is quite unique. Also, like most Formula One cars, it has the non-removable driver figurine except the head sculpt (HS). The original body shell was plain white but, Archyd repainted into white added with red accents waterslide decals based on the kit’s stickers. That includes various sponsors like Footwork FA13, Aguri Suzuki with Japanese flag, MD (Midori Elec), BP and Toshiba. The body shell also added with glossy finishing as well, and it was also equipped with the gun metal, medium diameter Mini-F wheels paired with the Mini-F1 Printed Side Wall Tire, it is the same slick tires that sold separately but, printed with Tamiya Mini F1. Unlike 020, it’s chassis default bumper set was replaced with Transparent Bumper Set. With this, I can see the Footwork marking on the front wing since the default bumper set would be covering that marking due to it’s solid color. I have to say, I’m not quite fond with the yellow-ish plastic color, I’m not sure is it because of the aged product or made to be that way. If it’s intended like that, I have to say it’s pretty lame color choice. I’d have prefered simply transparent white, the bumper set was actually the same mold of the standard bumper set. They also included transparent roller set but, when I bought the bumper set in new condition one of the roller is missing which I had to use the standard roller as replacement. Of course, the color is weird so, I asked Cluster Model Kit to repaint the roller set into silver. I have to say, they’re looking much better now. I couldn’t even tell which one is the standard roller one. Also, that Transparent Bumper Set also comes with transparent colored motor mount, they included this because the original standard bumper set mold runner got that motor mount.
Head Sculpt
Upper view
Mini-F driver’s seat are shown open top without any canopy so, we can clearly see the driver figurine. The driver’s HS is the same one like FW14 and B192 but, unlike those 2 I asked Archyd to simply repaint the overall helmet into gun metal color as well representing the kit’s coloring but, the trim visor was repainted into white trim with face details. I know it’s not accurate to Satoru Nakajima’s helmet but, I’m not interested making this fully accurate since I’m not quite familiar with the racer. Come to think of it, after looking back to the product numbering, 020 could be the first Mini F1 that has this exposed driver face since both Lotus Type 102B and Ferrari 642 HS got non exposed driver face. So, it can be assumed this HS face sculpt was based from Satoru Nakajima’s face. However, I could be wrong but, it doesn’t really matter anymore now. Archyd actually drew his eyes a bit different compared to the one he did on both Senna’s FW16 and Schumi’s B195. In 020, the driver’s expression was drawn to have slightly serious looks and a bit squinty representing Satoru Nakajima’s face but, not quite sure if this was intended or not. 020 cockpit features round shaped navigator which reveals the driver’s hands as well as steering wheel, and the driver’s interior is mostly black, while the seatbelt was painted blue with a little silver part for the belt attachments and the racing suit was painted white which all of this based according to how Nakajima’s looks in his 020.
Head Sculpt
Upper view
For FA13 driver’s HS is also the same like 020, FW14 and B192, in FA13 I asked Archyd to repaint the overall helmet into white added with black trim on the visor as well as face details. Once again, I’m fully aware it’s not faithful to Aguri Suzuki’s helmet since I’m also not familiar with him. The driver’s face is drawn to be more squinty but, less serious than 020 one. FA13’s cockpit was designed to be a bit protruding but, still have round shaped navigator and this still reveals the driver’s overall arms to his steering wheel. Also having black painted overall interior, while the driver’s seatbelt was painted red with a little silver part and painted white racing suit which also representing Aguri’s getup in his FA13.
COMPARISON
Comparison between the original 020
Comparing between the original 020, they overally similar since the kit was clearly based from 020 but, some part had been rescaled to fit into the Mini F1 chassis. The original 020 got larger rear wing and has no front bumper. Well, you cannot expect this line to be fully accurate since it was designed to run like Mini 4WD. If you want an actual replica, you can just buy miniature F1 car or other Formula One model kit.
Comparison between the original FA13
Between the original FA13, the body shell was also similar since the kit was directly based from FA13 with the exception of several part being rescaled as well for Mini F1 chassis. I can actually ask Archyd to make this kit a bit more accurate from it’s wheelset and extended sponsor decal but, I wouldn’t go that far for this kit since I only want to follow how the Mini F1 suggested except driver part.
Comparison
Comparing between both kit, FA13 appeared to have large gap on it’s front side fairings which you can see it’s underbody. Both cars got their own pros and cons but, they looked pretty unique and nice side by side. And as you can see both bumper set are the same mold since they reused the standard bumper set runner mold into transparent set, that also goes to the Printed Side Wall Tire which just simply added printing decals on the standard slick tires.
Satoru Nakajima is the guy being the first to record a fastest lap!
Suzuki scored a total of eight championship points in F1.
Final thoughts, I’m impressed as usual on how Archyd did this, superb work! His creations results are very satisfying since, I’m not fond with plain looking body shell. Currently, there’s no finished model featuring 020 and FA13 body shell but, unlike those like Mclaren, Ferrari and Williams, both 020 and FA13 are not that expensive but, that really depends on the seller since it’s still hard to find them in reasonable price. Since the discontinued series, the line became expensive and hard to find, there were actually several bootlegs released but, they’re also hard to find by now. I’m actually lucky enough to get these in reasonable price.
Braun Tyrrell Honda 020
Pros:
- Good details, repaint and waterslide decal work.
- Good for your collection display.
- Very convincing color to the actual 020.
- Can run like how racing Mini 4WD works.
Cons:
- Very fragile.
- Paint app may rub off easily.
- Not recommended for racing due to the fragility.
Design: 4/5
Movement: 2/5
Small Parts: 0/5
Substance: 2/5
Accuracy sculpt: 4/5
Footwork FA13 Mugen Honda
Pros:
- Good details, repaint and waterslide decal work.
- Good for your collection display.
- Looking accurate enough to the actual FA13.
- Can run like how racing Mini 4WD works.
- The Transparent Bumper Set is good if you’re not fond with the solid color.
Cons:
- Very fragile.
- Paint app may rub off easily.
- Not recommended for racing due to the fragility.
- Yellow-ish Transparent Bumper Set.
Design: 3/5
Movement: 2/5
Small Parts: 0/5
Substance: 2/5
Accuracy sculpt: 4/5
OMAKE:
Thank you for reading!
See you in the next review!
VioFitz 