1953 Hudson Hornet Mild Kustom.- Riding Low With a Smile

[Tyler62990]

A group I'm a part of on Facebook (The New Modelers Club, check 'em out!) decided to do a 50's buildoff over the summer, and being a lover of all things 50's, I had to jump on it. I didn't want to go with the crowd and do a tri-five Chevy or Ford, so I chose a subject commonly ignored by the kustom car community... the 1953 Hudson Hornet. What I'm shooting for here is a mild kustom. I intend to keep it simple and tasteful. Here's the plan:

 1. The trim will be kept to set it apart from the sea of 49 Mercs.

2. It'll be lowered, probably not slammed, but definitely lowered.

3. The top will remain unchopped. I love the lines of these cars.

4. A finned head and acorn air cleaners will replace the factory parts.

5. The stock grill will be cut apart and fused with the Desoto grill found in the Revell 49 Merc kit (hopefully)

6. A nice custom paint job will be applied... well, it was already applied. Check it out!

After painting the body with Testor's White Lightning, I used these colors to attempt a candy lace paint job.

After the white dried, a coat of Testor's Purple-licious was applied to the roof.

Usually when a paint job goes good up until this point, I call it good enough and proceed with the build. Not this time! I wanted to push myself to learn something new, and with the words "it can always be stripped" echoing in my head, I laid down some lace and nervously shot my Diamond Dust coat. Taking that tape off was like unwrapping a Christmas present!

In my excitement, I laid down a bit too heavy of a candy coat. No worries, though. Orange peel is my middle name. Once it cures, I'll clear it and sand it out. Nothing can rain on my parade lol.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Tyler62990

[Ramfins59]

That's looking good so far Tyler.  I'm also a fan of 50's cars and look forward to seeing this progress.

[espo]

Looks like a fun build. I have been also thinking of trying the lace top on something. What I was thinking of was to paint the white base and then put down the lace before the color coats. Hope the clear and sanding and polishing works out. Really like the top colors.

[Tyler62990]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm hoping to get the engine together tonight or tomorrow. I'll be posting more pics if I pull it off.

[Dogfish_7]

Should be interesting!

[slusher]

Real nice lace paint Tyler..

[CometMan]

Very interesting, and cool, idea! Not very often you hear the words "custom", and "Hudson Hornet" in the same sentence!!

[Tyler62990]

Thanks a lot guys. I shifted focus to my Nova project, but hopefully I'll get that finished tonight. Then I'll start really cracking on this one 

[Tyler62990]

I'm a bit behind schedule, but the engine is done. I usually buy pre-wired distributors, but figured I'd take a swing at drilling my own for this project since it's a unique piece and I figured I'd rather get some practice on a 6cyl. than an 8. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied, but still can't match the awesome dizzys I usually get from MAD. The fuel lines were done using my usual solder, as were pieces of the throttle linkage to dress up the kit pieces. A finned cylinder head from MAD (I believe mastered by Chuck Most of this forum. Thanks for such a beautiful piece Chuck!) was added to give some custom flare. The carbs were topped with two air cleaners from the Revell 29 Model A Roadster kit. I may need a few more of these for some fenderless, hoodless projects. What a cool looking engine this was!

[Modlbldr]

Looking good. Nice work on the motor and I love the lace paint. Keep it up.

Later- 

[Tyler62990]

Thanks man!

[93legnd]

This may sound dumb but where do you guys get those engine stands?

 

[Harry P.]

The engine looks real good!

[Chuck Most]

 A finned cylinder head from MAD (I believe mastered by Chuck Most of this forum. Thanks for such a beautiful piece Chuck!) was added to give some custom flare.

Aw, shucks...  You're very welcome. 

Kris deserves credit for the great casting quality as well. And yes, the Hudson 308 looks fantastic in open-bay and hoodless hot rods.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Chuck Most

[plastic trucker]

This may sound dumb but where do you guys get those engine stands?

 

I might be wrong, but I think the one pictured came in the Lindberg '34 Ford pickup kit.

[Ramfins59]

Great job on that engine Tyler.

[crazyrichard]

nice

 

[Tyler62990]

Thanks again guys! I just got the clear laid down yesterday, next up is the sand/polish and BMF. This is easily my most ambitious foil job to date so I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

This may sound dumb but where do you guys get those engine stands?

 

As Plastic Trucker said above, I got mine from the Lindberg 34 Ford Pickup. I have another one as well, but can't remember the kit it was in (AMT 40 Ford Sedan Delivery maybe?). The old AMT kits usually have some goodies included.

[Tyler62990]

I don't have much to show for the last few days, but I did manage to get the orange peel/dirt sanded out of the clear. As much as I'm trying to delay it, I'm probably going to attempt the foil tomorrow night, breaking it up into sections unless I get really motivated. In between the foil sessions, I'll most likely start doing the chassis and interior to keep me sane. Hopefully I'll have something more to show in the coming days, but until then, here's a before/after of the paint. Those polishing kits really work wonders.

 

[Modlbldr]

Beautiful job! That polishing job looks great. Keep it up. It's going to really come to life with the foil in place.

Later- 

Edited July 27, 2016 by Modlbldr

[Tyler62990]

THANK GOD this foil BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH is out of the way. It didn't turn out as good as I would like, but not for lack of trying. Being this is my third or fourth time doing the BMF thing, I guess I can't be too disappointed. I also managed to get the dash done last night. What a welcome relief that was lol

I got a bit careless and somehow managed to break the vent window support. A bit of glue and some foil and it shouldn't be too obvious

 

 

 

[Modlbldr]

It all looks fantastic. BMF is my least favorite part of the build. Yours looks great.

Later- 

[Art Laski]

Nice work, Tyler!

[warra48]

Love it! Very nice work.

[Roadrunner]

I'm with you, so far I'm not really impressed with doing the BMF thing, but it just needs to be done, so I suck it up and just do it.