Chuck Most

These are not the best pics, but this is a '52 Hudson Hornet built in a sort of '60's/'70's "Saturday Night Special" style. According to some old-time racers in my area, guys were still running Hudsons into the mid '80's, though by then a lot of them had been repowered. I'm sticking with the 308 for this version, though.

You had my attention at Farmall...

Ordered this on Saturday, and got it today. Nice little surprise for when I got home from work.

I must have missed that announcement! I'll replace it with this one...

This one is based on a few "bench racing" sessions from high school. Quite a few guys had Fox-body Mustangs... there was a really nice '84 GT, a somewhat ratty '84 convertible with a V6, an extremely nasty '86 LX 5.0, and even an '87 LX coupe with a 2.3. In auto shop class, and hanging out elsewhere, we'd all talk about building the "ultimate" Mustang, whatever that meant at whatever particular time we were discussing the subject. One idea was just a low-buck LX coupe- nothing fancy, maybe even with a backyard-sprayed olive drab paint job, and some type of potent, but oddball, engine. This model is sort of inspired by that idea. The Center Line wheels are from Pegasus- narrowed a bit to fit inside the Mustang's fender wells. I started with the drag kit by Revell. There's a 'hidden stock building option in that kit- all of the stock parts still come in the kit, and there's even a full set of stock tires. So I stashed all the drag-specific parts sans the cowl hood to use on another Mustang project and used the stock suspension, etc.. I still don't know if I'll go with a stock-type exhaust or some SuperTrap type mufflers just ahead of the rear tires, but I'm calling it done for now. The "backyard sprayed" Olive Drab is Tamiya, and I painted the hood flat black to represent an unpainted fiberglass unit- I may or may not add hood pins to it. The paint is intentionally less-than perfect, and I rubbed through to the red primer in a few spots. The Michigan "Stang" plate is from a Monogram '94. I left the front turn signal lenses clear to represent those clear "euro" lenses everybody was using 10-15 years ago. As for that potent but oddball engine? It's a 3.8 V6 with a supercharger, swiped from a Revell '92 Thunderbird SC. I also used the T-Bird's radiator and electric fan. The air cleaner box is the Mustang piece, spliced into the T-Bird intake tract. I may eventually install the spoiler, add some kind of WW2-inspired graphics, and of course sort out the exhaust situation, but it'll look alright on the shelf as-is for the time being.

Oh, there'd be interest in the subject. There just doesn't seem to be that much interest in this section of the forum, apparently.

When I saw the box art I thought "Why is Brad Pitt about to jump out of the buggy?"

Micheal- the '54 is already out. You should be able to get it in any shop or online.

Just a perfect balance- enough hot rod touches to make it work and the muted (but pleasant) color make it stand out.

This "rough" texture many have bellyached about is nothing. Seriously guys- prime and sand, like you normally would! You'll only run into trouble if you want to leave the body unpainted. ^Please allow me to clarify this statement. I haven't seen any real "bellyaching" on this forum about it- a few people who've voiced concerns and wondered if it would be a problem, which is totally understandable. But elsewhere on the internet I've seen people throwing a fit because they can't see their reflection in the plastic. Rest assured, though, it's a non issue! The two '54s I have both lack blemishes of any kind in the chrome- no worries there so far.No flash or terribly visible mold seams on any of the plated parts either, which seemed to be an intermittent problem with the '52 and '53 kits. No sign of it here yet. The only trim to really worry about are the "Hornet" scripts on the front fenders. They stand far enough off the surrounding surface, the problem is that there is a mold line which runs very close to them- use caution removing this mold line, as you may damage the scripts. The "HUDSON" lettering on the hood is finely done. Those could be detailed by foiling the bare plastic, then priming/painting over the foiled lettering. Knock off the paint with the edge of a toothpick between coats. The fender scripts could be done this way as well. Other than that, detailing the side trim, stone shields, and the rest should be a relative cakewalk. Both the fender scripts and hood lettering are supplied on the decal sheet, so you can just zap them off and use the decals if you don't want to bother with detailing the engraved lettering, as I did on mine.

Thanks guys! I think the next one of these I build will be a bit more extreme, but also a bit more "traditional" in style, for want of a better term. Kind of a mid-to-late '50's period piece. With a mostly stock engine and a full exhaust this time. Foiling the '52 and '53 kits is the only thing I don't like about building them (Convertible aside,that one is much easier to foil detail, for some odd reason...). The '54's simplified greenhouse and side trim are downright pleasant to foil- compared to the '52/3 kits and in general.

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/

Thanks guys! Here it is finished (though I'm STILL toying around with the idea of sticking a flasher on it somewhere). I made a few small strips to cover up the mounting pins for the mirror arm. Somehow, I didn't notice that I never painted them until I looked at the pics. So... those are painted now, and the engine bay was given a grimy wash. I'm happy enough with it now.

That's one plant though- it may have varied. For instance- in 1948 the Windsor plant built 32,388 Ford trucks and 10,073 Mercury trucks for example, which would be a pretty generous number of Mercurys for the year. From what I've seen, the number of Mercury trucks built in a given year would still mean your odds are much better of finding one with Ford badging, even if there are more Mercs than you might be led to expect.

I know I've said it more than a few times.

Well.. not getting respect on the HAMB isn't a big deal when you consider the average diehard HAMB member. "I built my car the exact same way they did 60 years ago." Yeah, because sixty years ago guys were buying "period correct" parts on ebay and craigslist (or hopping into time machines to get things that didn't even exist then, like Vega steering boxes and single-wire 12-volt alternators), assembling them in fully-equipped home shops with hoists, digital readout TIG welders, and plasma cutters, and then posting their progress pics on the internet for all to see. Yep, exactly the same. And don't even get me started on that worn-out, idiotic "build not bought" crapola that a disproportionately high number of them like to spout...

Nice! I had an girlfriend with one that (probably) looked just like this when it was new, just add about 16 years of Michigan winters and general wear and tear. Oh, and a stack of multicolor hair scrunchies around the base of the shifter.

I'll be watching- and taking notes.

If you want to use the warped parts to your advantage and do it as a very high-mileage beater, here are a few pics I took of one at a demolition site a few years ago- http://public.fotki.com/ChuckMost/truck-photos/gmc-box-van/

This is a reissue of the Honcho ('90's black plastic), with the plow from the '77 GMC reissue, 6-bolt wheels pirated from a Datsun 720, and the inline six from the MPC '78 Pacer, I still might grunge up the engine a bit, and maybe add a few more rust spots and perhaps some mud, but it's close enough to call for now.

A few observations (sorry if I'm repeating anything here)- I like the way the windshield fits in- it basically installs from the outside- there is a lip at the top you need to slip up into the roof first, but you don't need to push it through the opening, which greatly reduces messing up the foil on the surround. Also, big bonus points for the separate quarter glass and backlight- the one-piece backlight/quarter glass unit was one of the things I didn't like about the '52/3 kits. The '54 includes the side-exit exhaust from the '52 NASCAR kits- not sure if that was intentional or not, but a nice little bonus. There's also a leftover '52/3 dash, as the '54 dash is on a separate sprue with the hood and fuel door. The "Twin H Power" script on the deck lid stands out quite a bit more than on the '52/3 kits. Since the chassis is carried over from the earlier kits, any tricks/techniques you've used to build/modify those kits are still valid here. Same goes for the engine. The wire wheels are one-piece, but they have to be among the nicest looking wire wheels I've seen in a plastic kit. About all they need to look really good is a dark wash on the spokes. Hood fit is better- no need to sand around the outside edge so it isn't such a tight fit after paint. Everything fits together nicely- it seems like Moebius tweaked a few of the mounting holes for better fit. All in all, this would be a great one for one of those "24 hour" or weekend build projects. Between the good parts fit, and the fact that this kit is much easier to foil than the earlier Hornets, you can get a little instant gratification out of this one. I did one as a mild custom over the course of two days.

From what I hear, they were seldom seen even when new.

Got this kit Saturday morning, and decided to make a weekend project out of it. This is the 12th Hornet I've built, but the first '54. It's also the second one in a row to be painted Revving Red and fitted with large-diameter wheels, for what it's worth. Much of it is box-stock- I modified the front spindles to accept the custom wheels (from a Revell '57 Chevy), used a Morgan Automotive Detail (MAD) finned cylinder head, air cleaners from a Revell '49 Merc, and some shorter rear tires from the parts box. The side-exit exhaust from the NASCAR variants is still included, but not mentioned, so I used that instead of the stock exhaust. The body is entirely stock, though I just had to lose those clunky ornamental stone shields- a few minutes with a file and sandpaper took care of those. I sanded off the engraved "Hudson" and "Hornet" scripts and used the decals instead. Looks like I'll need to touch up the foil on the side trim, but other than that I'm fairly pleased with it. Not too shabby for a 48-hour project, I guess