The Prost AP01 was Alain Prost's first F1 car as a team owner after taking over the fading Ligier team at the end of the 1997 season. Driven by fellow Frenchman Olivier Panis and Italian Jarno Trulli. Powered by the Peugeot V10 engine the all French team entered the 1998 season with high hopes, however the 1998 turned into a disaster for Prost. The main problem with the car was its heavy engine which proved very unreliable and affected the car's balance recording numerous DNFs that season. What made matter's worse was the team made the decision to relocate it's operations to a factory nearer Paris and so the season turned into purely damage limitation gaining a solitary world championship point all season resulting in a 9th place in the Constructors' Championship.

The build is a curbside resin model by the small manufacturer Hobby Base Custom depicting the Olivier Panis car. Assembly of these kits is relatively straightforward however pre-assembly and test fitting as many parts of possible is vital as there is always some testing areas of fit which need to be fixed before applying paint. The model was sprayed using Zero paints beautiful Prost Blue and clear coated with 2 part clear. Some C/F decal was added to the floor and a wooden 'plank' decal was used for the floor. I added some small extra details to the interior and decided to include the controversial 'X-Wing Winglets' which were used on a number of cars early in the 1998 season before being banned. An uncomplicated build which required only minor tweeks and only taking 10 days to complete.

Click above for build and completed pictures