Peter Lombardo Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 It has been a very long time since I posted anything here and almost as long since I spent any time looking at any builds. I have been very busy launching a new business……Lord knows, it ain’t easy today to start a new business………….anyway, two weeks ago I stopped at a hobby shop that I hadn’t been in, in a while, and on the shelf I saw the 1954 Hudson Hornet by Moebius. I seemed to recall it was coming out, but I really didn’t have a serious conscientiousness about the kit. I looked at the box art and all I could see was a 53 – 54 Ford Fairlane…..so I figured, why not pick one up. I got home later that night and had my first look at the kit. As many have said, the first thing I noticed was that the body surfaces are very rough…..actually too rough in my opinion. I don’t recall the 1955 or 56 Chryslers being anywhere near as rough. Next I noticed that the rear quarter panel chrome trim which is molded on the body is way too light and could easily loss detail if too much paint is applied. All and all, I thought that the overall shape was pretty accurate, but I don’t really care for the shape upon closer inspection. The hood is way too high with , in my opinion, with too many “things” going on……I know, I know, it was the 50’s, and chrome and stuff was expected on the car bodies…….kind of like Japanese imports from the 60’s……..way too many curves, scoops and oddball shapes……it was like every two feet of the car was designed by a different designer…….no real continuity to the overall themed design, and I was not happy with the height of the body and of course the height of the roof. Well, I could not allow this to stand. I had no choice but to drag out my Dremal cutting wheel and partake in a little surgery to the body and top of the car. I took out 6 scale inches from the beltline of the car just above the molded on chrome accent strip which I later removed. If you look carefully at the front of the car side, you can see where I cut straight down (also in the back, but you can’t see the cut because of the putty used to redesign the taillight area), so that the 6 inch reduction in the front of the car came in the grille area, and the back of the car the reduction came from the area just above the rear bumper area. The cuts were cleaned up and glued back together…..you can see how the door opening lines still line up so the cut did not modify the length in any way. I added the headlights, molded them in and “Frenched” them. I added some styrene to the underside of the hood and ground away much of the height of the hood. I am kicking around the idea of adding some side air scoops to the upper sides of the hood, I just haven’t completely “sold” myself on the idea yet because I kind of like the smooth look of the long hood and don’t want to upset the flow. I removed, as I mentioned earlier the side trim and also removed the very faint moldings over the rear wheel well. In the back of the car, I added a faux molded in continental kit to 1., give the rear end a little more visual shape and 2. to help counter the extra height of the hood up front. I added higher rear “fins” to the rear fenders……they are not too big, but add some late 50’s style and jet fighter look to the car. The taillights will fill in the “vee” shape in the opening I made. I chopped about the same 6 scale inches from the roof. I cut small wedge cuts into the front a pillars……a wedge in the lower rear and the upper front of the a pillars. I cut the b pillars and removed the upper section. I cut two die angled cuts in the rear pillar and slowly pulled the roof to the rear and downward. I replaced the upper section of the b pillar with styrene and glued and puttied all of the joints with epoxy added to the inside of the joints which was later ground down to a smooth surface. Lastly, I added new moldings to the sides, cut the molding where the door lines will be. I was following along the same lines as the 1959 Buick with the single smooth line stating up top at the front and sweeping down to the rear. I will replace the interior with a much more modern looking tub……I have one intact from an Infiniti G35 that looks to fit nicely, so it may get the nod and I will replace the 6 cylinder motor from the kit with a Revell parts-pack chrome Caddy V8….which I will leave as all chrome. I plan on smoothing over the under hood side fender details so it will all look smooth and clean. As a side note, I now have to completely sand the body smooth ( not all of the modifications have been sanded smooth yet) because of all of the modifications to it, so the very rough body molding is now inconsequential…..which, in my eyes is a good thing. I will use the factory wide white walls and wire wheels and of course the car will be “down in the weeds” since all customs need to be dropped. I am thinking chrome multiple tube grille up front in the much lowered opening and maybe a hot candy dark orange with either ghost flames or ghost scallops underneath it with a cream roof with chrome trim all around it……….or maybe not…..just not sure of the color yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 bad55 stan Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 great work so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codie27 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Cool build so far. Ill be following this build fir sure. M!!Cool build so far. Ill be following this build fir sure. M!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 I'll be watching- and taking notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominik Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 uh,...good start. Looks interesting! Good luck for your Business btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Slick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
66belair Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Very cool! Let's see more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Also... the resemblance to the '53/4 Ford (or more specifically, '52... we'll get to it in a second) is not accidental. When Hudson chose to "reskin" the Step Down for '54, they had originally planned on something that was radically different from the previous models. Trouble was that a guy named Jim Moran, who owned the largest Hudson dealer in America (in Chicago) did not like the look. He suggested the design should take cues from '52 Ford. His logic was that he got a lot of these in on trade, and he could always get a good price on them when he sold them. Now, it might seem weird- if people were trading in Fords for Hudsons, you'd think that meant they liked the Hudson better, so making it look more like the Ford would be counter-productive, but he may have had the Ford's high resale value in mind. This input was used on the full sized Hudsons an and the new-for '54 Jet compact car... which is an even sadder story but I'll nip that so I won't ramble too much! Between that, and the fact that Hudson had all but bankrupted themselves developing the ultimately-unsuccessful compact Jet, they opted to go with Moran's idea.The '54 still had the '48 vintage Step Down chassis and body structure, but all the external sheetmetal from the window sills down was new, along with pretty much all the trim and the dashboard. Not everyone was thrilled with the '54's "playing it safe" design. In late '53 one of Hudson's major shareholders actually took a new '54 to a custom shop and had it restyled more along the lines of what Hudson originally had in mind. That car still exists today. http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/customcars_i_like/hudson_custom_cars/1954-hudson-hard-top/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagercr Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Pretty cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemopar70 Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 That will be cool!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curt raitz Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Good to see you posting again my friend, I was wondering what happened to ya... Looks like you're having fun with the Hornet, I looked at it, but got too many fires going to add another one. Looking forward to see what you do with the car and good luck with your business c'ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Great start. Interesting idea for a custom. Looking forward to more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lombardo Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 Thanks guys..... and Chuck, great background information on the Hudson's......I knew my eyes were not playing tricks on me, thanks for the story.....I actually did some research myself when I got the model since I really didn't know much about Hudson prior to the deal with American Motors......Curt, thanks buddy, I appreciate your concern about me being MIA.....our new business has great potential but man, this is the hardest thing I have even taken on......I will fill in the details later, but suffice to say, we are currently a very little fish, in a big ocean filled with big hungry "teethy" fish and just bobbing and weaving our way around is a full time task. I thought this was a very interesting design, for its day that is......the 1954 Hudson Italia That sure could set them apart from the run-of-the-mill designs of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Hey Peter... regardless of the Hudson, glad to see you back on the forum, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne swayze Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Nice old school custom car! You seem to have some cool ideas for this build. Please continue to post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Looking forward to watching your build Peter.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 hmm thats cool !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Looking really cool, keep it coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Good to see ya hacking plastic, Peter! A custom Hudson seems appropriate. Just one thing .. did you forget how to post full sized photos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lombardo Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 Good to see ya hacking plastic, Peter! A custom Hudson seems appropriate. Just one thing .. did you forget how to post full sized photos? You might think that....actually, it was an issue I had with Flickr.....I will have that corrected.......Harry, thanks......good to hear from you too. By the way, you (Harry) and Bill Coulter did a great job on the book, "Fifty Years of Mustangs.......A History of Scale Model Mustangs".........I feel honored to have one of my builds in a book that is just so full of great builds, pictures and amazing facts about model, and real Mustangs.......you guys should be really proud of the finished product..............I could not recommend any more than I do .......all model builders need to have this book in their library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatz4u Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 keep up the good work, I like where you're going with this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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