Art Anderson

Harry, please answer my PM to you. Art Harry, apparently you do not have the balls to answer this, nor my PM to you?

Gee Harry! In real life (Dad owned, and I worked on with and for him! 3 stepdown Hudsons): Those hood supports were no thicker than 3/16", which in 1/25 scale means less than .007 inch. Now, just how do YOU propose to injection mold somthing that thin. huh? Please answer my PM to you, with your phone number, let's discuss, OK? Art

Well GEEZ!!!!!!!! With styrene, Harry, there sometimes ARE compromises! So, get Korunow to do some in PE perhaps? Art

OK, time for another installment in the "Saga of the Hudson"! This time, hood hinges: Ya know how, all these years, if you wanted to display your model car with the hood open, to show off all that fantastic engine detailing, but had to use a toothpick, a bent-up paper clip, whatever; in order to prop up the hood? Well, the Moebius Hudson kits have not only scale hood hinges (non-functioning, but still!) ALONG with the springloaded "scissors" hood supports that Hudson used through 1954 (in fact, most automakers used this sort of hood support until at least 1949 or so). Here's a pic, to show what I mean: Art

Well, for starters, unless it was Premier/Palmer who kitted this "59 Studebaker", I cannot imagine whose kit it would be: AMT made but 2 serious model kits of Studebakers in their entire history in 1/25 scale: 1953 Commander Starliner Hardtop. and the 1963 Avanti (with parts to trim it as a 1964). In addition, Aurora Plastics made a 1/24 scale 1963 Avanti in 1/24 scale. JoHan made promo's of the Studebaker Lark of the era 1959-61, but no kits, and these were approximately 1:22 scale. JoHan did make a pair of 1962 Studebaker Lark kits in styrene, off their promotional model tooling, also in 1/22 scale, the Lark Daytona Convertible, and the Lark Daytona Hardtop (only the convertible was ever reissued, in the late 1970's as a snap-kit). That leaves the multi-piece bodied Premier/Palmer kit, not a very good piece, but simple enough it should be fairly easy to build even without the instruction sheet--it's also a pretty basic model kit. As for color schemes, that one is, IIRC, a 4dr sedan, and there weren't many colors available, about the only 2-tone scheme (again IIRC) would have been the addition of white paint to the roof to compliment whatever main body color was used. Art

It does seem to me that any modeler worth his salt should be able to remove that locating pin for rear axle to frame--bear in mind that with suspension travel, the Step-Down Hudsons had relatively little upward suspension movement--those cars rode pretty low to begin with), but upon lifting the car off the ground, the rear axle dropped down considerably--it had too in order to facilitate a tire change, as on the actual car, there is a frame rail OUTBOARD of the rear wheels, which on this kit had to be merely hinted at, by "stubs" at either end of the rear wheel well as seen on the under-frame (this due to the necessary material thicknesses of any plastic model car kit. So, to me, the issue of "mounting the rear axle to the frame rail kickup" is a non-issue--it won't be seen at all easily. Also, in real life, to seriously lower this series of Hudson would have meant some very serious underframe rework, given the already low stance of the car, and of course, that it is a very complex unit body construction. Next question? Art

A Hudson Hornet convertible was a no-brainer, given how Hudson made them to begin with. Hudson never engineered any specific convertible body for any of their "Monobilt" cars (Monobilt began in the late 1930's, was perhaps the most commercially successful unibody construction until first Volkswagen then Nash entered the unit body arena). Since convertibles were very slow sellers for most American carmakers in those years, Hudson engineers decided to merely cut the roof off a coupe, add in a bit more body reinforcement, design a folding top mechinism--styling came up with new interiors--and the their convertible was born. This was the direct opposite of the couvertible vs hardtop thing with the beginning of "hardtop" coupe production at Buick in 1949: Pillarless hardtops from the Big Three from 1950 until the early 1960's were simply convertible bodies with a solid steel top welded on, often all the various mounting points for the convertible top and mechanism remaining inside the body structure itself. So, just as AMT, JoHan, and MPC did with their classic 3in1 Annual series kits of the 1960's, doing a convertible version of the Hudson was a rather simple concept--just a couple of tooling inserts. Art

Along this line, YES, it only makes sense to wash the body shell (and related panels) with a good detergent and water (warm, but not hot--especially on resin parts, which are very sensitive to heat!), but I'll throw out some more cautions here: Be careful about the dishwashing liquid you use: Some have compounds called "silicones" in them, formulated there to give your fine china that extra bit of shine. That's OK for nice china and glassware, but silicone compounds are the enemy of paintjobs--they are the primary cause of "fisheye" in an otherwise perfect paint job. Also, it's a common misconception that mold releases are used in the production of injection-molded plastic parts for model car kits--in actual production that seldom if ever happens. What is much more ocmmon, and something most of us tend to forget, are the skin oils that are on our fingers and hands (without that, our hides would dry up and split!). Within minutes after handwashing, those tiny glands in your skin are pushing more of the stuff out to protect your skin, so frequent hand washing all the way through the building process is a great idea too. One box of supplies I highly recommend, particularly for prepping a body for painting is a box of Nitrile Examination Gloves--the same gloves EMT's and ER nurses and doctors use to protect their hands from pathogens when treating an injured person. These are not expensive--a box of 100 nitrile exam gloves at say, Walgreens or CVS is about $16, or 32-cents a pair. You may have to search a bit to get these gloves in larger sizes, but go for a size that fits your hands snugly (but not so tightly as to constrict movement, or tend to split). These will prevent your leaving fingerprints behind on an otherwise squeaky clean surface. Last, I never allow a body shell to simply air-dry after washing and rinsing: Tap water in most every area of the country has minerals in it, such as lime, even salt (especially "soft water"), and those minerals, if the water is simply allowed to dry by evaporation, will leave water spots (minute deposits of such as lime or salt) that will show through in an otherwise fine paint job (especially if you are striving for maximum finish with minimum paint buildup. Simply blowing the excess water off your body shells, hoods, and the like with the air from your airbrush compressor (or even those compressed gas cans sold at office supply stores to blow dust off puter keyboards and the like will prevent water spots. Just a couple of things I've learned over the past 59 years of model car building. Art

That Skipjack, combined with a 5-channel radio control system, and one of the commercially available model submarine ballast tank systems would be SOOOOOO cool! We have here in Lafayette a 3-acre lagoon in our principal city park, that would be just so neat to play with a sub--I can hear it already: Aaahoogah@ Aaahoogah! DIVE! DIVE!. Hmmmmmm! Art

Now, I need another Allison V1710 V12! Neat sketchpad, Jairus! Art

Soon! Very soon! (You might consider getting your workbench cleared off in about 8 weeks or so?) I'm just sayin' Art

The Hornet "rocket" is larger than the chrome spears on the sides, both in height (vertical dimension) and in thickness (as it stands out from the sheet metal surface), lotsa pics out there to confirm that for you. Art

Correction! I just received final round test shots, and the windshield is SEPARATE from the vent wing glass--just the tiniest flange around the inside edge to position it against the inside of the body shell, giving a flush fit when viewed from outside! Those who were concerned about the headlight lenses having locating pegs in their centers? Not to worry--those are there NO longer. Someone asked about the hubcaps: They are molded as part of the stock wheels, seeing as how they are almost large enough to be full wheel covers, but no matter--open steelies have been tooled. In short, there's a LOT TO LIKE in this kit! Art

Bear in mind, the last pics you saw were those of the tooling mockup, so the rear axle assembly there might well have had some mounting to the frame rails. The kit itself doesn't. As for the "tabbed" mounting of the Hornet "rocket emblem", that will still be the way it's mounted, in order to ensure proper locastion for this separate, plated part. For those wanting to omit this, for that "shaved look", the slot should be very easy to fill and sand smooth. The windshield glass is designed for flush fit, but from behind--that necessitates a thin "flange" around it, with the vent wing glass tied in at the ends (easy to cut those apart, trim down the flange on both windshield and vent wing glass if one so desires. Art

The side spear is now correct. What may be confusing you is that there is a "cheat line" above the side chrome, where the sheet metal "bumps out", and this pic doesn't really show the width (or height) of the side chrome. Art

The plastic parts are now approved for production, final tire test shots are due in the US in a couple of days, decal sheet is ready for printing, tampo printed whitewalls are almost ready, instruction sheet (will this be a full booklet like that for the International Lonestar?). YESSS, the Moebius '52-'53 Hudson Hornet Twin H-Power Club Coupe LIVES folks! Here's a teaser pic of the final test shot of the body and hood: Now before anyone pitches a fit because the hood seems not to fit--NOT TO WORRY! I shot this pic 3 weeks ago, not long after I got this test shot--didn't take time to trim down the sprue attachment points at the rear edge of the hood--I do that, the hood will fit like fingers in a glove. As a side note here: Hearly a year ago, Dave Metzner took a step that no model company product development specialist does: He let all of you here on MCM Foruns in on what the first go-round of the tooling mockup looked like. There was a virtual firestorm of comment--Dave and I listened, we read, we went back, checked all the references, found the errors, got them corrected--with the help of all of you here on MCM--so pat yourselves on your back (be careful, some of you may bruise easily!), but you guys who pointed out your areas of concern were listened to--so you deserve a bit of credit in all this. I will have more pics as I launch into building this puppy (It's a car out of my past--my Dad bought a '53 Hudson just like this one--black with ivory roof and ivory lower side panels, so this is a trip down memory lane for me, for sure. Stay tuned! Art

Just to help out a bit here: With the advent of the "Balloon Tire" (itself the basis for all pneumatic rubber tires since its introduction in 1925), tire sizes have gotten smaller and wider over the years (until the modern passion for large diameter rims, low aspect ratio "rubber band" tires, of course). With Ford (as well as Chevrolet, Plymouth and other low-mid priced cars), The basic balloon tire started out on a 21" rim in 1925-26, dropped to 19" about 1929-30, then 18" for 1932, 17" in '33-'34, finally to 16" for 1935, which tire diameter pretty much stuck until 1948-49, when the more modern 15" low-pressure tires came to be. Tire widths grew from 3.375" with those 21" tires, to 6" with the introduction of the 16" skins (of course, larger heavier mid-price and luxury cars got wider tires in order to carry their greater weight). But, with model car kits, certainly back 50 yrs ago or so, it was pretty hard to justify a new tire tool for every model kit, based simply on what was exactly "scale", particularly if the powers that were in the particular model companies could not envision other car subjects using them, or more the notion that there would be any sort of market for exact scale stuff a half-century or more into the future (Crystal Ball technology was rather primitive in 1959, it seems!). Art

If you can find it, 3M Acryl Blue spot & glaze putty is excellent. It's an acrylic lacquer-based putty, extremely fine and smooth stuff--feather-edges beautifully. That said, it's not a putty best used for really deep filling, due to its being an "evaporative putty", in that it relies on the evaporation of solvents to dry; and this WILL cause shrinkage. This isn't noticeable when filling say, a minor sink mark, or very shallow file or sandpaper marks, but for deeper imperfections, or for building up a surface you will be better served to use one of the various catalyzed spot & glaze putties. Catalyzed putties are based on polyester resin (the same resin used in laying up fiberglas boat or even fiberglas Corvette bodies. This stuff does not shrink, will adhere to styrene (sometimes it needs a bit of help on really flexible model car bodies, but that's another story and topic for another time). Art

It's been within the last 6 or 7 years, but Collectible Automobile Magazine had a feature article on Bruce Meyers and the Meyers Manx, with a lot of color pics. Worth trying to locate that issue, frankly. Art

Or, good ol' red oxide lacquer primer! I like to use the stuff as a guide coat for bodywork--just airbrush the stuff where I do bodywork, so that I can see the low spots. One distinct advantage of lacquer primer is that once I am ready to paint and finish, a thin coat of the primer, followed by a Micro-Mesh polishing cloth (generally I use 4000 grit here) gives a satin finish that makes for virtually perfect paint jobs requiring very little in the way of color sanding (in fact, almost NEVER) and only minimal polishing compound work. Art

Amen on Corvettes. Perhaps my favorite Corvette sighting was at the Auburn Auction (Auburn IN during the Labor Day Weekend ACD Reunion in that small Indiana city). It was one of the first production '53 Corvettes, a total survivor--having never seen any restoration (with only about 5,000 miles on the clock it didn't need it), still wearing its Polo White nitrate DuPont Duco nitrate lacquer with red accents in the interior (only color available ona '53 Vette from the factory). A couple of things jumped out at me as I ogled this car: First of all, the serious roughness of the body--while most panels were reasonably "straight", being that the fiberglas body was assembled from a series of subassembly panels and units (not unlike any steel bodied car), joined together with a layer and a patch of polyester resin and glass cloth--VERY rippled in those areas of the car. Second, and most important, how the lacquer finish had shrunk when it dried (lacquer, by its very formula, dries entirely by evaporation, which leaves a very thin finish that will show virtually any surface imperfection in the substrate). I could see virtually every single bit of glass fiber in the fiberglas surface, even the gel-coat had shrunk over the decades. Most interesting was the dashboard--being laid up with fiberglas cloth rather than sprayed on bits of glass fiber from a chopper gun--I could see the weave of the glass cloth clearly. Now I realize that I was looking at a Vette a couple of years past 50 years old--but it sure was intriguing to study! On another note, when I walked into Fireproof Garage in Lafayette IN to see my '70 Cuda 340 after the truck delivered it--I was shocked to disbelief when I saw, right in the middle of the passenger side door--a common house fly that had gotten sprayed into the red paint! Needless to say, I didn't take delivery until Fireproof's body shop refinished that! Art

Yes, seeing as the hubcaps are just that, hubcaps and not full wheel covers. Art

The car pictured is a 1949 or 1950 Hudson, NOT the kit that Moebius is doing (Moebius kits will be 1952-53, which is a different grille and front clip). The Moebius tooling has the correct roll bars, correct Nascar exhaust setup, and open steel wheels, which were not modified, they were the stock Hudson steelies, just didn't use hubcaps from the street version. I have test shots here which have all those parts in them. Art

Unfortunately, the old AMT '32 Ford sidemount spare tire wheel wells are way too wide, given that AMT Corporation had only a 7:00-15 tire available in 1959 when their first Deuce Roadster kit was released. The actual car used 5:375-18 tires and wheels, and as such, the wheel wells were not only deeper due to the larger outside diameter, but were a lot narrower, and the ends of those wheel wells are round, as in semi-circular, NOT squared off. Replica's and Miniatures of Maryland has a newly released set of those 18" wire wheels, with tires to match, and if you look around, wheel wells that will work were in the stock versions of the Revell '31 Model A Station wagon kit--the stock versions of it. Art

Good old orange Ambroid (from whence its name comes) is an acetate-based wood glue, great for building a balsa aircraft model, not so good for plastic. Art