1:24 14 inch Minilite Double Fin

Eight arms everybody knows

The Minilite is probably the best known shape of a light wheel of all. The doubled ribs on each arm gave it the nickname the pattern is named after, and from the sixties it appeared under British small cars, roadsters and competition specials. In fourteen inches it is exactly the size that was raced back then on circuits and on gravel alike.

Cleaning up the doubled ribs

It is the ribs that give the pattern its character and at the same time make up the finest place on the whole part. Remove the marks left by production with a stroke from the center outward and rather in several light passes than in one deep one. A rib that does break off can be replaced with a strip of thin plastic, but it is work that it pays to prevent by being careful.

The color that becomes the pattern

Historically these wheels were worn in a matte anthracite with a machined, that is bare metal, edge. On a model that is suggested with a thin strip of silver led along the outer ring, ideally with a brush rested against the edge so that the stroke stays continuous. The center of the wheel often received a black cap, adding which takes a few minutes and moves the result a good deal further.

Adding shoes and fitting

In the set there are the rims alone; the rubber is obtained separately. A tire with a tall sidewall belongs to this size, not a low-profile one; the opposite choice would move the car into an altogether different time. When fitting, count on the axle pin in older kits tending to be thicker than today's parts assume, and the hole needing to be freed up.