B E N E T T O N   B-190b  (1991)

W.M. Elzerman

Photos by the Author.

The Model:  This model represents the Benetton Formula 1 car as it raced in the first races of the 1991 season, driven by Roberto Moreno and Nelson Piquet. The car was a further development of the B-190, which raced throughout the 1990 season. It was powered by a Ford 3.5-litre aspirated (non-turbo!) eight-cylinder engine.

The Kit:  

The paper model kit is printed on 4 pages of A4-size. The offset printing is of good quality, but not of excellent sharpness. The paper itself is of around 120g/m2 weight and average quality. The printed colors are clear and bright as they should be on racing cars, especially Formula 1 cars. It is a pity that there is a lack of gloss which the real cars have so much of; on the other hand I mostly find that really glossy paper models become too 'toy-like'. It was once was explained to me that with the reduction of the size, the brightness and gloss have to be reduced to keep a 'looks-like-real' appearance. And in this kit the colors are bright, but certainly less then the original!

There are 4 versions possible: 2 of each driver and of those a high- or a low-down force car. The high-down force car has the bigger front wing and the 3-element rear wing.

Numerous parts are provided. I didn't count them, but it must be around 300 - 350 pieces. Next to that, some additional stuff is required: some 2 millimeter hard-cored electrical wire to make the tubing, toothpicks/skewer and 3 thickness of cardboard. I used 190gr/m2 paper and 0.5 and 1.0 millimeter greyboard for layering parts where needed. I still cannot read Czech, but I think the manual indicates these grades by PK1 = 190gr/m2, PK2 = 0.5 mm and PK3 = 1.0 mm.  Anyway this explanation worked fine for me. The number of the parts, many very small, make the kit not suitable for beginners.

In the Cardmodels E-zine of January 2003 Saul Jacobs did a First Look and stated: "First Impressions:  The company rates the difficulty of this model 4 out of 5. I would really like to see what a 5 is as this is one of the most detailed and complex card models I have ever seen. Because of this and the instructions being in Czech I rate this as extremely difficult and would recommend it only to the most experienced card modeler ".  I would leave off the word "most". It's the old Czech tradition of putting as many parts possible on one page which give that overwhelming and complicated look. Once building you'll find that each segment is made of several parts, which by itself is fairly easy to build.

The cutting and scoring are clearly indicated by little scissors (cut-in or separate), red line/cross (remove area), pointing arrow-like triangle (mountain-fold) or  dash-dot-dash (valley-fold). The parts of each segment are indicated by a building order number in a different color for each segment: green = wheels and uprights/brakes, yellow = engine/bottom, orange = main body/cockpit, blue = rear body/wings, gray = alternative parts. It is this color indication that I also will follow in this review.

" GENTLEMEN AND LADIES:  START YOUR SCISSORS " 

 

Green Parts- Wheels, Brakes and Uprights

The first thing to do is layer the indicated parts on the different types of paper and cardboard (PK1 etc.). Then the cutting starts... Many little pieces are to be done to build bigger units which will build-up the segments. Some parts have to be done up to 8 times. Look at the brake disc: it consists of 3 separate parts. In the picture are the 3 separate parts and 3 built discs, of which 2 have already got a touch-up on the edges. I use simple water-color-paint for touch-up. On the discs come the calipers, which each contain 2 brake pads. Talk about detailing!

In the center of the disc is a construction which should allow the wheels to rotate. I have bad experience with these things and skipped that; the axles made of toothpick are glued firmly in the heart of the brakes.

Again the parts were touched-up with paint. I use this simple watercolor paint because it is so easy to mix until you come as close as possible to the original. Exact matching is generally not possible as the shade changes after drying. I stick to the rule: for dark colors the touch-up must be equal or somewhat darker and with bright colors the opposite.

Each disk brake is made of 13 different, in a total of 18 parts...

The next things in line were the upright and cooling ducts. The uprights are made solid by inserting 3 layers of cardboard (PK2/0.5mm) on which parts a - l were layered. On the front upright it is possible to make slots for inserting pins to make the wheels steerable. I did this and will decide later whether or not I will use them.

Finally, in this green stage, are the wheels are to be done (that is, if you keep following the manual's indications, like I did). The wheels can easily be done at a later stage as well. I did the wheels and rims with my "good old" butt joint method, removing the glue tabs. As always trying to avoid 'faceting'. After a black touch-up the parts were fixed together and set aside to dry. Do this is in several stages: first the heart and first round of the rim, then the next. When dry this gives a solid base for the tire. After 8 wheel sides you come to the tread. And again I didn't use the tabs, but a layering of scrap inside. When the wheels are done the final touch is sanding the corner on tread and cheek and give it a black touch-up.  My method of wheel building was described in the Cardmodels E-zine of March 2003.

The parts of stage GREEN:

Yellow Parts- Bottom and Engine

The bottom plate of a Formula 1 car of the early 90's is a fairly simple flat construction: no difficult wing shapes, complicated diffusers or stepped areas. Just a upwards curve at the rear with some vanes (vertical spoilers). 

This you can see back in the kit. The elements are built by gluing the two halves back-to-back upon each other. Before doing this part 4 has to be fixed in its place. No doubt the manual explains this, but I still cannot read Czech..... resulting in having glued the bottom and finding out what went wrong when the glued had dried too much ! Luckily things could be corrected with a careful butt-joint and some black paint.

Before this was completely dry I added the vanes and the reinforcement layers. When still soft the rounding's can be set in the right shape with aid of the curve of the vanes. The multi-layering holds all in this shape when set aside to dry. I let it dry with the flat area clamped on a flat surface with a little weight. The vanes were on the same flat to keep them and the curve in the right upward position. The dried layered part gets a certain stiffness when dried. Finally the edges got a black touch-up. 

Part 8 (cockpit bottom) is the only part I didn't put in its place. Set it aside until that section is to be done....

The engine is a complicated piece of the model. The main structure (cylinder block and gearbox) is built up by putting several separate parts together. These separates are by themselves fairly easy to build; more or less some boxes with easy straight folds. 

In the kit I had there was an extra little page with optional parts for a simplified  layout of the main engine structure.  All parts you see in the picture are represented in 4 parts only.... with loss of detail of course!

No need to tell I took the hard way: why do it easy as it can be done difficult?

The main structure is completed into an engine by adding many detail parts. These are in the kit as easy-to-build separates, some of which have to be made of other materials like wooden toothpicks, wire, etc. I even took some "hair" from our household broom... These were made of some kind of plastic and of perfect thickness and roundness. I made the rear suspension's pull rods of them (part 53). Axles and oil pump parts (parts 58&59) were made from painted toothpicks and some gray(-ish) paint.

Special attention is needed for part 65, some oil tube. This part is bent out of wire using the provided template. This template shows the shape from 2 sides: head side and top. Therefore, a 3-dimensional bend needs to be done. 

Needless to say that for all parts that are to be made from other materials there are clear and exact templates provided. They are spread all over the pages like the parts and some have according parts numbering, while others are indicated by a character (upper- or lowercase). So don't lose any of them while cutting the parts. I advise to keep the scrap until finishing the model. You never know what accidentally is thrown away.

Now most of the detail parts are added and the tubing and wiring are set on their places, also clearly indicated in the manual drawings. 

For the wiring I used 2 kinds of material. First there is thin (0.8mm) soft core electrical wire for the oil tubes. Others are the sparkplug wires, which I made out of a kind of thick thread. I just couldn't electrical wire thin enough. The thread was soaked and painted with diluted black paint and water based glue,then hung to dry with some weight.

The last steps in this section are the air scoop and the rear wing support. Both gave no problems in building as separate units. The wing support was put in its place at this time. The air scoop will be done later to make alignment with the rear body possible. With the brakes and inlets in place, the result looks like the next big pictures.

The parts of stage YELLOW:
 

(I'm always surprised to see how much the little imperfections become noticeable when enlarged.....)

Conclusion (so far) : MegaGraphics  has delivered a near to perfect model kit. Simple as that! By following the parts numbers and drawings in the manual, no fitting or building problems will occur. On one occasion (part 8) I didn't follow this rule. As stated before, I cannot read/understand Czech, so it's possible the manual has indicated this...

Is this kit suited for the average experienced builder? Again simply YES, provided he will not be discouraged by many tiny little parts and adding other materials besides paper. Or does this make him a more experienced builder? I think this indicates that the classification of MegaGraphics (difficulty class 4) is about right for Czech-speaking builders. A true 4+ it for those that don't. A real challenge!

Summary:

 

Model:	Benetton Camel B190b - 1991
Kit:	MegaGraphic - Formula 1-series
Designers:	Michal Antonick�  (?)
Availability:	this kit was provided by Spyshop( http://www.e-papermodels.com/ )
Scale:	1/24
Difficulty:	medium-high
Number of Parts:	300-400 (didn't count exact)
Instructions:	in Czech writing
Diagrams:	yes
Fit:	near perfect
Coloring and Artwork:	bright and colourful
Printing:	good
Resources:	non used

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