1:24 15 inch Italian Wire wheels for 250 GTO

The racing spoked wheel for a berlinetta of the early 1960s

The car the set is intended for belonged to the last generation of front-engined racing gran turismo cars. Its wheels were spoked, with thin steel wires and a center-lock hub, because the crew had to manage a change during a race lasting several hours without being held up by wheel bolts. A diameter of fifteen inches was the standard for the tires of the day.

What it does to the shape of the body

The berlinetta has an unusually narrow roof, rounded fenders and a tail finished with a sharp edge. A spoked wheel in the arch supports that shape, because it leaves the arch transparent and the eye only stops at the outline of the fender. If a solid disc sat in its place, the fender would grow visually heavier and the car would lose the impression of a skin stretched over the mechanicals. A tall sidewall also lifts the body into the position these cars really had: to today's eye it looks high, but without it even the angle of the hood does not sit right.

Finishing on the model

The wires will take only very thinly applied paint, otherwise they run together. A silver base works well, then a dark wash once it has dried and finally drybrushing of the edges so that the individual wires separate. The center with the wing nut repays being set apart in a warmer metallic tone. Darken the inside of the wheel arch before you fit the wheel; a brush will not reach in there later.

A place in the collection

The wheel repays attention even outside a finished build: as a comparison piece next to solid discs it shows how differently mass is handled on racing and road cars of the same period. In a display case of gran turismo models it makes a natural addition.