Hasegawa Benetton B190: Completed

Here’s a look at my completed model kit of a 1990 Hasegawa Benetton B190 in 1:24 scale. This plastic kit was one of the glut of F1 cars made by Hasegawa in the late 80s/early 90s. I decided right away that I had to build it as Nelson Piquet’s car. The triple champion won the final two races of 1990 in the B190 – the Japanese and Australian GPs.

Painting and decals

I sprayed all four of those lovely bright colours on using Tamiya rattle cans. That was a fun job! Probably my most difficult spraying job to date, and aside from a few small bleeds it came out pretty well. As the defining feature of the car is the colours, it was critical that I got them right, so I spent the most time getting the masking as accurate as I could. The colours I used were:

• Green – TS35 Park Green
• Blue – TS23 Light Blue
• Red – TS8 Italian Red
• Yellow – TS16 Yellow

The decals were a replacement sheet, I think it was the Shunko one. The only issue I had with them was the shade of the green United Colors of Benetton logo on the yellow section of the engine cover, which doesn’t quite match the TS35 Park Green spray I used for the green area.

Aftermarket additions

This build was fairly ordinary, and aside from the replacement decals, there were only some minor additions to the standard kit. The rear wing proved to be a bit of a pain to assemble, and getting the wire supports in was a fiddly job. In order to make them, I simply cut some 0.4 mm wire to size. It adds a nice bit of detail to the kit and also makes proper use of the recessed areas on the engine cover. In addition, I also took the time to use replacement wire for the aerials on the nose. A seat belt set completed the list of aftermarket items added to the standard kit.

Conclusions

Overall, the Benetton B190 is a cracking little kit that has added a nice splash of colour to my collection. The two Hasegawa kits I’ve completed so far have been very enjoyable and well manufactured. The instructions are clear and the build is straightforward, meaning less stress for me! On top of that, it’s a first 1:24 scale car from me for some time. Let me know what you think of it in the comments. It goes very well with my Larrousse LC90, with the two cars featuring on the podium of the 1990 Japanese GP. So now I just need another Benetton for Moreno, and I’ll have the top 3 finishers!