Chuck Most

All I know is that it will be fixed on future reissues of the Club Coupes and NASCAR kits- you'd probably be better off asking Dave when those will be out. At the risk of being overly redundant, I'll mention again that they have been corrected on the '52 droptop kit.

Here's a revised and updated version... BUILDING IMPRESSIONS: Test fit as you go- quite a few of the locator holes will need to be opened up in order to receive the pins on the parts they are meant to locate. “Positive fit” is the name of the game with this kit… the assembled engine/transmission locks into the chassis very securely- two holes in the oil pan slot onto pins molded to the front crossmember and tie rod, and a rectangular tab on the bellhousing fits into a similarly-shaped slot on the trans crossmember. There are also two flat pads on the front of the engine which sit on corresponding pads on the frame, replicating the 1:1 engine mounts. The tires required no heat or kneading to accept the wheels, but I recommend sliding the wheels in from behind, as the ‘paddles’ molded to the inside of the wheel will mar the whitewall if you insert the wheel from the front. Chase out the mounting bosses to clear out any chrome plating residue trapped inside- this will eliminate any chance of splitting the mounting boss as you try to insert the axle into the wheel. That isn’t needed with the Marshall Teague version, the wheels in that kit are not plated. If you aren’t happy with the color of the taillamps, a pass or two with a red Sharpie or your favorite clear red should do the trick. The lenses are molded clear and painted red at the factory, so you can strip and completely refinish if that’s your thing. All of the Hornets I’ve built had some degree of minor warp in the chassis, but fitting it to its mounting holes in the floorboard and clamping it into place as the glue sets will eliminate the problem. Clamping isn’t really necessary, though- I do it more for my own peace of mind more than anything. The completed chassis/interior assembly slots cleanly into the body and fits tightly- you could probably get away with skipping the glue for this step. The chassis-to-body fit is very satisfying- the best I’ve seen. You may want to sand down the sides of the radiator if you plan to test fit the chassis and body more than once- it fits very tightly into the core support, and can bind and be ripped loose taking the body back off the chassis. The front bumper tends to want to tip back a bit- tape it in place so that, when viewed from the side, the ends of the bumpers are even with the lower edge of the splash apron as the glue sets. This will prevent giving a downturned, ‘sad’ face look to the car when viewed from the front. The decals are nicely printed, and set very well without aid of setting solution, but be very careful when placing them- they snug down good and fast, and don’t want to be moved once off the backer and on a painted or foiled surface. Don’t forget to foil the window trim molded to the clear parts! Yes- you can use the ‘foil before paint’ trick to detail the ‘Twin H Power’ lettering on the decklid… all you need is a polishing cloth or fine sandpaper… and a very soft, very steady hand. The windshield almost snaps into place- the rear window unit can be a bit fiddly. Best course of action seems to be removing the mounting posts for it molded to the headliner, and then splitting the rear glass unit into its three components- backlight and rear quarter glass. The rear window seems easiest to install by slipping the bottom edge home, then gently working your way up, pushing the window until it seats into place. The majority of the chrome parts fit well, but the front bumper tends to want to lean back if left unsecured while the glue sets, which will give the bumper a sad-face look when you look at the car from straight ahead. Tape the center of the bumper down as the glue sets, being mindful that the bumper is horizontal in front, and along both sides. Also, keep in mind you will likely need to open up the mounting holes for the side mirrors and wipers a bit to ensure they settle into place properly. PROBLEMS: We’ve all seen the kits with bad flash- not much can be done about that now, though Dave Metzner has said the manufacturing facility has been made aware of the problem, and told not to let it happen again. The ’52 convertible shows much better molding quality than the earlier ’53 Club Coupes. The 1953 Club Coupe kits out now have bad air cleaner decals. A request with an SASE to Moebius will get you as many corrected sheets as you need. The other kits have corrected air cleaner decals. The cut lines for the rear fender skirts are too far forward. This was corrected as of the ’52 convertible, and will be fixed on later reissues of the coupe kits. In the meantime, filling the existing vertical cut lines and moving the front one roughly 5mm rearward and the rear line about 3mm rearward is the best fix. Watch out on the part number callouts for the side mirrors and wing vent glass- the part numbers are flip flopped side to side. The instruction sheet is mostly pretty good, but some subassembly diagrams only show one side, leaving a bit of guesswork regarding parts location on the side not shown. That being said, it’s still difficult to put the wrong part in the wrong position because of the way the parts attach. There is a very helpful color guide, but no color callouts in the actual assembly sequence. CUSTOM MODS: In short- if you wish to lower rear of the car, be prepared for a lot of grinding. You will probably need to raise the transmission tunnel so the driveshaft will fit into the snout on the differential- you might also need to extend the tunnel all the way back to gain clearance for the differential snout. You will also need to modify or omit the upper piece of the rear crossmember which traps the driveshaft and exhaust system. Lowering blocks can be made from simple slices of rectangular styrene strip, but depending on how low you go, you might want to look into de-arching or otherwise modifying/replacing the leaf springs and shocks, so as to gain ground clearance and not violate the ‘scrub line’. Like most early IFS cars, bring the nose of the Hudson down too far and the front crossmember will be dangerously close to the ground- a thinner crossmember, mounted higher up in the frame, or a GM or Mustang II front clip will need to be adapted if you want the car to really hug the pavement. The engine bay will gulp down pretty much anything short of a Cummins turbo diesel, but for most V8 swaps at the very least you will need to remove the mounting pins for the stock engine, and more than likely move the transmission crossmember rearward. To avoid possible interference with the V8’s left valve cover when installing the chassis into the body, you may need to trim the battery tray back a little bit depending on what V8 you use and how it is positioned in the chassis. Keep in mind- Hudsons were available with GM Hydramatic transmissions- so early GM overheads were common swap fodder for them, though again, pretty much anything is fair game. I’ve installed Cadillac, Pontiac, and even an AMC V8 into these kits, and all have required more or less the same modifications.

If you look at the side of the box for the Marshall Teague version, you can see how the box art model's skirts were cut- the forward vertical cut line is still there. For a body with the incorrectly located skirts, you'd want to cut about 5mm behind the front cut line, and about 3mm behind the rear cut line. Then the tire should be centered in the opening.

That's certainly true- but... I'm sure Revell (not to mention the other kit manufacturers) has somebody checking out threads like this. They know what's wrong, and what problem areas modelers are looking out for. Yet I'd be willing to bet that the next all-new kit of a much-anticipated subject will have just as many flaws if you really strap on the goggles and soak the thing in. Is Revell going to go back and address the issues people have spotted on future runs of this kit? My guess is no. Is it possible to make a kit perfect? Probably. Will it ever happen? From what I've seen, probably not. Every new release has its flaws, even though the kit manufacturers know their products will be put under the microscope. Not saying that's good or bad, just saying that's what happens. Don't get me wrong- it's good to have any accuracy issues pointed out. We all notice different things- what slips right by me might be a huge issue for the next guy. Having critique like this helps immensely in that regard- it puts the information out there, and the end buyer can choose to fix it or live with it. And like I said, I'm sure that information gets back to the manufacturer. But in spite of all this- no perfect kit. How's that even possible?

Well... turns out my Hornet Anglia will need a lot more cutting and trimming than I thought, so I ended up getting a started glue bomb for parts as a backup plan. Hopefully I'll actually have some progress to report shortly.

Which means Sammy Hagar was never in Van Halen. So it's not all bad!

The Cherokee was great- but the whole time I owned mine I was fantasizing that it was a Comanche.

If you are planning to build this kit, a couple of tidbits... 1. Just go ahead and deepen the hood, door, and trunk cut lines- they are extremely shallow, and will get lost under a few coats of paint. 2. If you plan to cut open the moonroof, you will find it has been scribed from underneath. This panel comes out with almost frightening ease- I barely dragged the back of a #11 blade over the scribed lines three times and it was out. 3. The body on this kit is THIN- watch it when sanding/working along the roof pillars. I haven't broken any of them. Yet. Anyway- the door handles are now gone- I'm still dragging my feet on the front plate bracket, though. Entire body is now coated with primer sealer- hopefully it won't be too long now before paint, though I might take a short detour and work on the interior first.

Same thing doomed the Quad 4. Eventually they did get around to fixing its major issues, but not before it had already established its infamous reputation.

Nice! Love the way these early Skylines look.

I think you should have left it in On The Workbench... it's still technically a car, right? A lot more people would see this cool model project! I've wanted to tackle this kit for a while- I won't go into so much detail with mine, though.

I haven't seen the car in about ten years- I'm guessing it's long gone by now.

I was just thinking about it- once these kits come out, every generation of F-series truck will have been available as a plastic kit at some point, with the exception of the most recent two generations of the F-150 (2004-2008 and 2009-Present). You'll still need to go with resin for certain model years, but the Bumpsides are the last ones from the early years to be kitted. I'm hoping for a repeat of the '90's- an upswing in popularity of light truck subjects. Maybe then we'll finally get a Super Duty Diesel, Dodge 2500 Power Wagon, and maybe even a GM HD Duramax or two. Fingers crossed!

There actually used to be a 240Z in my area that looked like this one- duct tape a trash bag over the driver's side quarter window and your model would be a dead ringer for it.

Sweet!

Wonder if that's an agreement with Ferrari- if you recall a few years back all Ferrari kits had a window so you could see some of the contents inside the box. I've seen a few other Ferrari kits with photos of the sprues on the box.

I guess the sales pitch for it was that it was a heavy duty design, and could carry more weight than a typical coil-spring or torsion bar IFS. As to why having a heavier duty front suspension on the FRONT of a 2WD truck would be needed, never sure on that... I've never had any issues with the TIB setups I've had except for on my current truck- but then again it's a year shy of being eligible for an Antique Vehicle plate, so it's bound to need some work by now. I've always had worse luck with those rear shackles rusting out.

Hmmmm.... build it as-is and plop it down on the back of a Jada International Durastar rollback? Seriously though- that sucks! But hey- that's kind of the risk you take. Nothing bad happens if you don't work on it, right? If you don't work on it, just plain nothing happens!

Gimme a day- or two. The car is in the middle of a bodywork session at this moment.

Was the J30 the car they unveiled with that weird ad campaign, remembered best for not showing an image of the car itself?

Hey Mike! Dig this one out and finish it already!

Nah- not this one. Now, if one of Infiniti's later (and MUCH prettier) models were produced in kit form- such as the G35 or G37, THEN I'd most certainly do a factory stock version. And at least one tuner version. Of each.

Well, decided to forge onward with the XS wheels and tires, which are now permanently installed with the included rotor/caliper castings. This is as low as the car can possibly get with these wheels and tires, without carving up the inner fenders like a Thanksgiving turkey. I've also removed the mud guards at this point, but there's still a bit of bodywork before it's close to paint ready. I'm still considering shaving the door handles and the front plate frame.

Mine doesn't. And yes, you do need to get back to that Infiniti.

So I take it you scratchbuilt everything on your display shelf- scripts, tires, glass, and all, right?