1954 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe

[ModelcarJR]

I started this one yesterday and hope to get more paint on it today. I have primered with Tamiya white fine surface primer and painted the roof Krylon Ivory to substitute for the cream color. I'll be painting the body Tamiya Pearl Light Green today to substitute for Spring Green. The interior will be two-tone with Ivory and Hunter Green. Interior parts any d all the black parts are sorted and ready for paint. Should be done with painting by the end of the day. Thanks for looking! 😎

[GRiN]

There was a lot of these built when they first came out but so many now. nice to see one again. the green and ivory two tone will look very cool and very 1950's. Always love the look of these and other cars from the 50's. The stodgy cars we say our grandparents drove.  will watch as you go. Gary

[Dirkpitt289]

These were such cool cars. I need to add one or three to my stash at some point. Watching with interest 

[slusher]

Really nice color choices, John!

[ModelcarJR]

Thanks, Gary, Dirk, and Carl!  I appreciate your comments! Gary, I learned how to drive in a car similar to this one, a 50 Ford.  A six cylinder with three on the tree. I drove it forward and backward in the short driveway at our house. Just about the time I got it in gear it was time to stop. In reverse, I often killed it by abruptly letting off the clutch before I went into the street! My actual driver for High School  shortly after that was a 58 Chevy which was a tank.  I am a Grandpa so you are right! 

I got paint on it and am in the process of rubbing it out. Also painting other parts. The pictures are a bit washed out in the light. I foiled the body scripts before paint and revealed them with some lacquer thinner and a small Tamiya cotton swab. Hoping to touch it up a bit once the humidity permits.  Thanks for looking! 😎

[espo]

Great looking color combination. These are good kits with a lot of fine trim details. Hope you have plenty of BMF. 

[mrm]

I keep looking at these kits thinking how cool they are and keep never getting one for some reason.

The color combo is cool and will be keeping an eye on your progress. Perhaps I will get inspired and finally get me a Hudson. 

[Street Rod]

Your paint looks great and the color fits the car very well! I, too, want to build one or two of these. Will be watching your progress.

[bisc63]

I have a couple of these, so I'll be learning from your build. Be sure to call out any issues! Love the colors already; this one will be a fine looking ride.

[Kenmojr]

Love these old Hudson. I would like to purchase one of the Moebius kits. Closes I ever got to a 1950s Hudson was at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine. Never see a 1940s or 50s Hudson around Nova Scotia. But there are a few 1920s & 30s Hudson and Essex which have been hot rodded.

[TransAmMike]

Looking good so far John and when completed I know it will look great.  

Question for ya...how did you do the emblems, I'm thinking you foiled before painting and rubbed the paint off??

[GRiN]

Great looking paint job. I would love to have one of these in my Garage right now. The first car I remember my parents owning was a 1951 Hudson. keep moving forward on the build.  looking good so far.

[Zippi]

That 54 Hudson is looking pretty good.  

[thebavarian]

That´s a very nice kit. The color is a good choice from you. 

[Chevy II]

I have the '52 & '53 Hudson Moebius kits. They look to be very detailed. I like how you did the body script. How close did you trim the foil before painting over it?

[slusher]

Colors look great on your Hudson, John!

[ModelcarJR]

Yes, I foiled the letters after white fine surface primer and removed the paint with a small Tamiya cotton swab sold at Hobby Lobby (I think they are carrying another brand now) after the color coat of paint and before I applied the clear coats. When I applied the foil I first cut in strips, and used a cotton swab and a round toothpick to press down the foil and crimp it into every niche of each letter so that it would stay in place. The I trimmed the foil on top, bottom and sides of the script.  For the hood, I cut a strip, crimped down the foil on the letters and then removed the piece in between each letter and cut around each letter.  You can actually read the letters even though they are very small. I thought about using a chrome pen but they would turn silver every time I touched them. Even a clear coat over the chrome pen will dull the finish. So I think foil is the best approach. 

Once I had rubbed out the paint, I added some paint in a few areas (the cowl area and the lower rear left side) where I had rubbed out too much paint.  Once that was done, I added another coat of clear to the entire body and rubbed it out with some Scratch-X and added some wax. It has better color now in photos. 

I am in the process of foiling and would like an opinion from any of you. Does the lower chrome trim  look better on the left side or the right side? I used some blackwash on the left to give it a little more depth in this thin trim. Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking! 😎

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by ModelcarJR
grammar

[espo]

The light wash helps to show the trim details. I have tried the Tamiya Panel Line Accent paint to do much the same thing. Having used this on door and panel lines it can seem too dark on lighter colors and the model I'm working on now has white as the main body color and have found the Tamiya Panel Line paint in gray works much better in that application. They offer it in other colors as well. Your chrome trim looks great, and the paint finish looks nice and smooth.  

[ModelcarJR]

Thanks, All for the comments that I forgot to mention in my last post.  I appreciate all your comments! 

I worked on the engine most of yesterday. I wired the coil and spark plugs by drilling out the distributor, coil and cylinder head. The distributor was pretty flat so I just scraped off the 7 tits on it and that provided white dots to locate the plug and coil wire drilling locations. I used a #74 drill bit as I have broken the rest of my small bits. I removed the tits from the cylinder head as well, aned drilled holes there as well. Next I used Pro Tech spark plug wire and wire looms. I glued two three-hole wire looks to the edge of the head in order to keep the wires tight on the head and avoid any interference throttle linkage and air filter cannisters.  I also added fuel lines with a fuel filter. The fuel filter is a piece of Jewelry Shoppe gummy cylinder that I threaded onto the fuel line and painted the round top. i also shortened it a bit as you will see in the last photos. Engine went together well and I just have to straighten up the front cannister and unkink the fuel line a bit and it will be done.  Thanks for looking! 😎

[TransAmMike]

Lovin' the work you're doing on this John.  Thanks for explaining the trim foil proceedure.  As much as I'd like to try it, I doubt I'd have the nerve🙄

[Mopar - D]

Great details on your engine John. Looks like it’s ready to run. I like the right side BMF to me it looks cleaner. 

[Perspective Customs]

Your Hudson is looking great. I use the foil under paint technique as well. It can be tedious but gives you much sharper results.

As far as the wash on the lower chrome trim, it looks like the 1:1 is all chrome, no wash or cut outs. I would go with that. Looks much cleaner.

 

[slusher]

Foil work and engine looks great  John..

[ModelcarJR]

Thanks, Mike, Dan, Jay and Carl!  I appreciate your comments! 

Ran into some minor issues so I thought I would pass them along as many of you have asked me to point out any trouble spots. These issues are concerning the chassis construction.  The chassis is presented in the instructions right side up (see photo).  Yes, after 300 builds I still use the instructions unless I find a better way of assembly or there are errors that I have to ignore.  I normally assemble the chassis with the bottom side up as I'm sure most of you do as well.  In these instructions, that means that left is right and right is left.  Then since I am left-handed in a right-handed world I can get confused easily. 

The instructions have plenty of warnings about getting the exhaust pipe and driveshaft inside an oval in the middle of the frame so that the crossmember that glues on traps them inside. However, since the instructions are not clear about where the springs for the  rear suspension are suppose to mount. First, the axle is mount right to the frame with pins and receivers. The pins and receivers are nice throughout and are well-positioned, but an axle pinned to the frame would ride pretty rough and not require shocks or a sway bar. Small point and I hope it was just manufactured this way for simplicity. I am used to the springs being square and mounted to the frame rails or beside them on the outside. This particular setup and I assume it is true on the 1:1, the rear spring end mounts on the outside of the frame rail and the front of the spring mounts inside in a little niche that is not readily apparent in the instructions. It took me a while to see it and figure this out but it is the only way that the spring will touch the pin on the axle to glue it down. It also have to go that way for the shocks to reach the pin on the spring. So that's the quirk in the rear suspension (see photo). 

That's it for the rear but the front suspension also poses some issues.  I put the springs, spindles and a-arms in first with no glue. That's how I noticed that in order to get the tie rod to meet the socket in the spindles, I had reverse the wheel assemblies.  Easy to fix, I just disassembled and switched wheel assemblies. However, what I didn't notice was that I needed reverse the A-arms too. The mount for the sway bar was on the back of the A-arm instead of the front. So I glue the assemblies together incorrectly of the A-arms. Since I didn't want to take these assemblies apart I simply cut off the tabs where the sway bar was suppose to mount and mount the sway bar a little bit closer to the A-arm and the connection for the sway bar disappears under the A-arms (see photos).  Not sure you can see the socket for the tie rod but it is below the spot where the tie rod wants to mount. 

 

So now its on wheels and sits on all fours which is really all I care about. Thanks for looking! 

 

[thebavarian]

A great wired engine