FSW Weekly Edition #32/2026

Russell's Melbourne Curtain-Raiser

Spark's Mercedes W17 1st Australia 2026 #63 Russell in 1:43 scale captures the very first race of a brand new Formula 1 era. George Russell, now the senior figure at Brackley and driving with the authority the role demands, took the W17 to victory in Melbourne to open the 2026 season, handing Mercedes the perfect start to the new regulations and setting the tone for the campaign that has followed. The Australian Grand Prix has a long history of springing surprises on teams still learning their new machinery, and to win it with a car of an entirely fresh generation, at a circuit that punishes any weakness in traction and braking stability, made the achievement all the more satisfying. As a subject, the #63 W17 marks a genuine milestone, the first winner of the new era and the car that put Russell's name at the top of the timing screens when it mattered most.

Spark's resincast interpretation upholds the standards that have made the range the benchmark for 1:43 Formula 1. The W17's distinctive new-generation aerodynamics, its slimmer bodywork, reprofiled front wing and tightly packaged rear end are all cleanly resolved, while the Petronas silver and black scheme with its AMG and IWC branding is sharply applied across the car's surfaces. It is precisely the kind of landmark subject that anchors a modern Formula 1 shelf, and best of all it is in stock now for immediate dispatch while stocks last.

The Mercedes heads a Spark delivery packed with Formula 1 subjects from the closing stages of the 2025 season and the opening races of 2026. Alongside Russell's Melbourne winner comes Kimi Antonelli's victorious car from China, the second of the year's first two race winners, while the 2025 content is headed by Lando Norris' Brazilian Grand Prix-winning McLaren MCL39, the McLaren Constructors' Championship set featuring Norris and Oscar Piastri, Russell's Mercedes from Las Vegas and the Alpine A525s of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. Away from the single-seaters the same Spark shipment takes in the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT from Le Mans 2007, two Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HFs, Super GT machinery and the 2024 Spa-winning Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in 1:64, plus an Oscar Piastri 1:5 helmet. It is a fantastic mix of new Spark and Sparky releases across 1:43, 1:64 and 1:5, all available to order now.

There is more built and ready-made Formula 1 content besides. Minichamps celebrates McLaren's dominant performance at the 2025 British Grand Prix with both MCL39s from the team's memorable one-two finish at Silverstone, Norris taking an emotional home victory ahead of team-mate Piastri in second, and both cars have now been recreated in 1:43 scale. Looksmart turns to Maranello's earlier single-seater history with the 1:18 Ferrari 312 T3 in which Carlos Reutemann won the 1978 British and United States West Grands Prix, part of a group of five new listings that also brings 1:43 sportscar winners from Daytona and the Targa Florio. Looksmart's latest delivery adds two 1:5 Charles Leclerc helmets from the 2025 season, representing the Abu Dhabi and Las Vegas Grands Prix, while Minichamps' future production listing introduces Formula 1 models presented with "posed" driver figures and celebratory pit boards, together with a couple of McLaren boxed sets and an extensive BMW and Valentino Rossi programme running through 1:64, 1:43, 1:18 and 1:12 scales.

Endurance and GT collectors are handsomely served this week too. TrueScale and Top Speed's latest delivery has a strong Daytona flavour, with TrueScale's 1:43 arrivals taking in the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and Korthoff Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours alongside Paul Miller Racing's BMW M4 GT3 from the 2024 event, completed by Top Speed's striking 1:18 Lamborghini SC63 of Bortolotti, Grosjean, Kvyat and Mortara from the 2025 race. A second Spark delivery leads with the iconic Ford GT40 Mk2 of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, winner of the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, joined by Jules Gounon's Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the 2025 DTM season, the championship-winning Porsche 911 GT3 Cups of Daniel Ros in Scandinavia and Aaron Rackstraw in the UK, and the VDS Panis Racing Oreca 07 from the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours in Sparky's 1:64 range.

The GT shelf keeps growing from there. Mini GT brings the wonderfully distinctive Porsche 911 GT3R #77 "Halloween Rexy" of AO Racing from the 2025 Petit Le Mans, the fan-favourite car of Klaus Bachler, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen given a suitably spooky makeover of the famous Rexy livery for the season finale at Road Atlanta, recreated in 1:64. Almost Real becomes the latest brand to get in on the 64th scale scene with the very colourful Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3R it sponsors in the China GT Championship. Looksmart delivers the Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 from the Spa 24 Hours, the #8 car of Niccolò Rosi, David Fumanelli, Daniel Di Amato and Niccolò Schirò that finished 28th overall, and Looksmart has confirmed that it will make all the Ferrari 296 GT3s from this year's Spa 24 Hours in 43rd scale, with AF Corse #50, #51, #52 and #70, Kessel Racing #74, Rinaldi Racing #45, Selected Car Racing #71 and JMW Motorsport #60 all covered, the Kessel and Rinaldi cars both class winners, and only the third-placed AF Corse entry also offered in 18th scale. TrueScale adds the Sebring 2026 Pfaff Lamborghini Temerario, the Daytona 2026 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.Rs and the Penske Porsche 963 that won at Daytona and finished second at Le Mans in 2025 to its future production list.

Classic endurance content runs deep as well. Top Marques has readied a great collection of 1:43 Le Mans, ITC, IMSA GTO and street machinery for pre-ordering, with the 1991 Mercedes C11, Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti, Ferrari F40LM, Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari F50GT and Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary. Looksmart meanwhile pairs its Formula 1 listings with the winning Ferrari 330 P3/4 from the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours, the 1965 Targa Florio-winning Ferrari 365 P2 and the second-placed 330 P4 from the 1967 BOAC 500, and Looksmart has announced fifteen new classic Le Mans Ferraris, the majority in 43rd scale, taking in the works 330 P2 from 1965, the works 330 P3 and NART 365 P2 Drogo from 1966, the works and NART 330 P3/4s from 1967, the works and NART 512S from 1970 and the NART 512M from 1971. Ixo rounds things off with the Porsche 963 that finished ninth at Le Mans in 2024 for Hertz Team Jota and a plain white Ford Mustang GT3, both coming in 1:18.

Mercedes W17 1st Australia 2026 #63 Russell - SPK9380

Bugatti W16 Mistral World Record Edition 2024 - MRCLS544WR

Wallace's Record-Breaking Mistral

Looksmart's Bugatti W16 Mistral World Record Edition 2024 in 1:43 scale commemorates one of the most extraordinary feats in modern road car history. Conceived as the final send-off for Bugatti's quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16, the Mistral shed the Chiron's roof without shedding any of its ambition, and in 2024 it was taken to the Papenburg high-speed bowl to settle the question of just how fast an open-topped car could go. At the wheel was Andy Wallace, the Le Mans winner who has served as Bugatti's official test driver through the marque's entire modern era, and the Mistral duly recorded 282mph to claim the title of the world's fastest roadster. As a subject it represents the closing chapter of the W16 story, a machine built without compromise and driven to the very edge of what a road car can achieve.

Looksmart's hand-built interpretation does full justice to the occasion, with the top-quality construction and the very fine, carefully applied photo-etched detailing that have made the maker an official supplier to several supercar manufacturers. The Mistral's dramatic proportions, its horseshoe grille, sculpted X-motif lighting and the distinctive record-run presentation are all beautifully resolved, capturing a car that manages to look every bit as fast standing still as it proved to be at Papenburg. Released this August as part of The Singh Collection, it is exactly the kind of blue-chip road car subject that rewards early commitment.

The Bugatti heads a Looksmart delivery that brings together an exciting mix of modern supercars and Formula 1 collectables. Joining the Mistral are the Ferrari 849 Testarossa Spider in yellow and the Ferrari F80 in classic red, both beautifully recreated in 1:43 scale that is available to order now. It is a shipment that shows the maker's range at its broadest, moving from the absolute pinnacle of road car performance without missing a beat.

The rest of the road car week is every bit as varied. BBR uses previously released master parts to offer a selection of new colours on its 1:43 Ferrari 288 GTO and 1:18 599 GTO, giving the Maranello collector fresh ways to complete a shelf. KK Scale adds dark blue and grey to its 1969 Lamborghini Islero S, first released back in June, while Matrix looks to September for its 1:43 models of the 1935 Mercedes 500K Cabriolet C, the 1951 Cadillac Professional S&S Florentine Flower Car and the 1970 Cadillac Superior Hearse, with a 1959 BMC 5-Ton Transporter and a 1994 to 2002 Range Rover P38 still in the prototyping stages. Autocult supplies the week's rare automotive weirdness, always a delight, with a pair of subjects from completely different ends of the spectrum in the spectacular millionaire's 1936 Zephyr Land Yacht and the 1985 RMA Amphi-Ranger 2800SR amphibian utility vehicle. Ixo adds a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 to its American 1:43 series, and TrueScale's future production list finds room for the BMW M4 CS road car in grey alongside its racing subjects.

Coulthard's Red Bull Debut

Cigale 43's Red Bull RB1 4th Australia 2005 #14/15 Coulthard/Klien/Liuzzi in 1:43 scale captures the moment one of Formula 1's great modern forces announced itself. Born out of Dietrich Mateschitz's purchase of the Jaguar Racing operation over the winter of 2004, Red Bull Racing arrived at Melbourne in March 2005 with a Cosworth V10-powered car, a first-year team principal in Christian Horner and expectations that were modest at best. David Coulthard promptly answered them by bringing the #14 RB1 home fourth on the team's very first outing, a result that turned a curiosity into a serious proposition overnight, with Christian Klien in the sister car and Vitantonio Liuzzi in and around the second seat through the season that followed. Two decades on, with everything that Red Bull has since achieved, the RB1 has become one of the most significant debut cars in the sport's history.

Cigale 43's resin and metal kit does the subject full justice, built around components produced by Tameo Kits including the 3D prototype, casting, photo-etching, tyres and other parts, together with a comprehensive decal sheet. The builder is offered the choice of Coulthard, Klien or Liuzzi, the last of these covering the Friday test running that formed such a distinctive part of the 2005 season, giving three quite different finished cars from a single box. In stock now, it is precisely the kind of thoughtfully researched kit that rewards the patient modeller with a subject nobody else on the shelf is likely to have.

The RB1 does not arrive alone, as the same Cigale 43 delivery brings a second superb 1:43 kit from that debut season in the Monaco Grand Prix version of the car, and both are in stock now. There is plenty more for the builder besides. Marsh Models has embarked on an ambitious project inspired by the then excellent SMTS 1:43 kit first released perhaps forty years ago, re-modelling the 1967 Eagle Mk1 Weslake with a remastered 3D-printed resin body and re-cast ancillary parts. The kit will offer a choice of sixteen race versions for Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Richie Ginther and Ludovico Scarfiotti, including detailed instructions on how to make the unique Monaco short-nose version, with images to be updated as production progresses. For anyone who has ever wanted to build one of the most beautiful Formula 1 cars ever made, this is the moment.

The kit and hand-built shelf runs deeper still. Marsh Models' latest delivery is dedicated to the spectacular Lotus 30, with a superb selection of 1:43 hand-built models representing the car in competition during 1964 and 1965. Jim Clark features prominently with cars from Mosport, Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Riverside, alongside examples driven by Bob Bondurant, Frank Gardner and David Prophet. For those who prefer to build their own, the Lotus 30 kit in 1:43 resin and metal is expected imminently with a choice of seven versions for Clark, Bondurant, Prophet and Gardner. At the other end of the scale entirely, Pocher has something for those who love a big project, a 1:8 premium die-cast metal kit of more than 580 parts with pre-decorated pieces, offering thirty hours and more of build time to make the 2024 Ferrari 12Cilindri in either Rosso Imola or Blu Corsa.

Rally and rally-raid collectors have not been forgotten. Spark's latest announcement is rare news indeed for Pikes Peak and Dakar followers, with a 1:43 group of Pikes Peak Fords covering the 2026 and 2024 winning Super Mustang and F150 as well as three RS200s, while in 1:64 there are the three 1984 Dakar Porsche 911s of winner René Metge together with the cars of Jacky Ickx and Roland Kussmaul available to pre-order. The two Lancia Ypsilon Rally 4 HFs in Spark's main delivery add a contemporary note, and with Elfyn Evans and his fellow World Rally Championship crews having spent last weekend sampling the Aberdeenshire gravel that may form the basis of Rally Scotland in 2027, the stage-bound faithful have plenty to look forward to both on the shelf and on the calendar.

Red Bull RB1 4th Australia 2005 #14/15 Coulthard/Klien/Liuzzi - CFK012