Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1997 F310B 1/18 Minichamps (with Marlboro)

This is a beautiful, quite rare model of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari from the 1997 Formula 1 season in 1/18 scale.

Brief History on this car

1997 was Schumacher's second season with the Scuderia. Michael managed to take the title fight to the final race against the far superior Adrian Newey-designed Williams of Jacques Villenueve. The 1997 Ferrari was really a hashed version of the awful car from 1996; it wasn't really developed as much as it should have been due to the massive regulation change coming in 1998 (narrower cars/grooved tyres). It was the final season of "slick tyres" until 2009 when the infamous "grooved tyres" would hitherto be banished to history.

Schumacher took some of his hardest fought, best wins of his career in this car. For example, the Monaco and Spa wet weather races where he simply humiliated his rivals.

The season finale at Jerez his is now fully established in F1 folklore. I don't need to mention more on that but having watched the race live, I still maintain that Villenueve wouldn't have made the corner if Schumacher had just yielded and there was no contact; I honestly feel Michael was treated too harshly in the aftermath.

Updates I have made to the car

General

I have applied the decals using MicroSet & MicroSol setting solutions for a quality finish. Aside from Marlboro branding across the car/driver, additional info/updates below:

Front Wing / Nose / Tub / Bargeboards upgrades:

• Black screw heads/slots applied to sides of front wing, nose, tub & bargeboards as per race-going car.
• Black aerial on nose replaced with a correct silver one.

Sidepods / Engine Cover upgrades:

• Black aerial added to top of sidepod. The original was very poor and inaccurate; far too thin and long. Replacement is shorter and thicker and more reflective of what was used throughout the season.
• The "E" (Emergency Cut-off) on engine cover removed and replaced with a new one to its more correct location.
• Larger-sized "bolt head" added to right of sidepod (by/on Pioneer sponsor)
• Black decals added to small vents to rear of engine cover to depict "air-cooling vents".

Driver Figure / Cockpit / upgrades:

• Marlboro branding applied to steering wheel & dash - with some tidying up of the MOMO detailing above Marlboro branding on the steering wheel.
• Red decals added to various locations on the driver's gloves to depict Michael's gloves during the 1997 season (Minichamps supplied this model with erroneous all-white gloves).
• Marlboro & OMP sponsors added to driver gloves.
• Central white stripe down middle of torso (above main Marlboro sponsor on torso) removed as this was not there at Marlboro-banned events.

Rear Wing upgrades:

• Marlboro branding on front and back split into two to represent a partition in the wing for more accuracy.
• Black "screw heads" added to front and back of rear wing (above the Marlboro) to represent screw heads.
• Black "Screw heads" added to the sides of the rear wing to represent adjustment slots.

An additional note to add on the rear-wing: note the way the Marlboro fits the rear wing perfectly - I have seen many upgrades to 1997 Ferraris and NONE have ever managed to get this right.

Final Notes

The model car and box are both in excellent condition which, considering their age, is not easy to find.

As with all my items for sale, that all come from a smoke/pet-free home.

I am only looking to sell to the following jurisdictions due to postage costs: UK / US / EU / Canada / Mexico. If outside of these, please contact me beforehand as I may be able to accommodate.

If you've got this far, thank you for reading.