Opening

According to my research on the '54 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe, the actual Hornet shown in this picture is the factory two tone scheme of:

Upper: Ebony Black (Ditzler paint color #9100)
Lower: Green Gold (Ditzler paint color #80618)


This is the finished model with Betty Boop waiting to see a movie at the local drive-in theatre

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Parts are out of the bags and being inspected.

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There was one flaw. the exhaust pipe looks like the plastic was still soft when the mold was removed and the tail pipe pulled apart. You might be able to see the plastic that stretched and pulled apart. This is a very simple fix and if this is the worst of it, this kit is in great shape!

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This type of interior, using separate side panels is new to me, so I mocked up the interior. I also slid this mock up into the body to ensure everything would fit properly. Everything looked really good.

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Another view of the mocked up interior.

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All parts have been cleaned and getting ready for primer. I have most of the small parts for the engine, front suspension and others on clips and wooden sprue's getting ready for primer.

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All parts have been cleaned and getting ready for primer. I have the larger parts on wooden sprue's getting ready for primer

The body is shown in this photo; however, it is not ready for primer. The outside of the body in in excellent condition. The headliner is the only thing that needs work before primer can be laid on it. There are injector pin marks and print that needs to be filled and removed.

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All parts, except the body, have been primed using Mission Model MMS-003 gray primer. This is the first time I'm using Mission Model paint and so far I love it! Using their suggestion: 30-drops of paint, 5 to 6 drops of Mission Model MMA-003 Thinner/Airbrush Cleaner and 5 to 6 drops of Mission Model MMA-001 Polyurethane Mix Additive. Mission Models website has a series of How To.. videos' in their Video Gallery

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Floor pan is also primed and too big for a sprue; therefore, I simply laid it in my spray booth.

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This kit was very clean and did not require a lot of prep work. The only thing that needed some work is the headliner and two spots on the inside of the trunk. The headliner had six injector pin marks that were indented and needed to be filled. The text will be sanded off when I sand the putty. The trunk had two injector pin marks that could be seen if I would plan to open the trunk lid. I'm not sure if I'll open the trunk, but in case I decide to, the pin marks will be taken care of. I've been using Tamiya white putty. It seems to work the best for me.

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I've been testing Mission Model Paints , the MMP series in particular, because they are true acrylic water based and has absolutely no odor. That's important to me because I don't have a way to vent my spray booth to the outside and I don't want the odor from solvent based paint in my cellar where I work, and then have it migrate to the upstairs in my house.

Mission Model started by making paints for military modelers and therefore, the finishes are dull. I don't call it flat, I think it's more like an egg shell finish. However, for building cars, most time, I want a gloss finish. Mission makes a Gloss Clear Coat that is also acrylic which I'm also testing.

This photo shows six of the Mission Model Paints I might be using for this build. If you haven't seen their color selections, there are many, many to choose from. The test spoons shown in these images are some of the colors I'm testing for use on my 1954 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe build. The top row is the paint directly from the air brush. To use Mission Paint with an airbrush, Mission recommends the following formula:

• 5 to 6 drops of Mission MMA-001 Polyurethane Mix Additive
• 5 to 6 drops of Mission MMA-002 or MMA-003 Thinner/Reducer
• 30 drops of Mission MMP paint.

[Continued under the picture]

The spoons were first primed with Mission MMS-003 Gray Primer. After approximately 12-hours, the color was applied. The top row of spoons is the paint directly from the airbrush and the bottom row are the same spoons with a coat of Mission MMA-006 Gloss Clear. (No MMA-001 Polyurethane Mix Additive is needed with the Gloss Clear). The colors are as follows:

1. MMP-011 Dnkelgelb RAL 7028
2. MMP-003 Red
3. MMP-094 Medium Sea Gray RAF
4. MMP-064 Dark Gull Gray FS
5. MMM-001 Metallic Burnt Iron 1
6. MMP-045 Black

The paint works really nice; however, using the gloss clear is a-bit tricky. There are some flaws on these spoons caused by the gloss clear, which I think I laid down to thick, too fast.

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After the hood was primed, a major defect showed up on the top of the hood that couldn't be seen well before the primer coat and did not show up well on camera. The rib under the hood, shown in the top picture, created an indentation on the top of the hood. It was so indented that I had to fill it as shown in the bottom image. I also missed the ejector marks on the bottom side of the hood. I'm showing part of the bottom side of the hood in bottom image, but the bottom side of the trunk, has huge ejector marks that also had to be filled, they were too deep to sand off. I can't believe I missed them before the first coat of primer. Oh well...I caught them now, that's the important thing.

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The engine parts have been painted. I used the following colors:

• Mission Model MMP-003 Red: Engine block, head, water pump, Belt Pulley's and Air Cleaner Canisters
• Tamiya XF-85 Rubber: Fan belt
• Tamiya X-1 Black: Generator and Starter
• Tamiya X-6 Orange: Oil Filter
• Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow: Distributor
• Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver: Throttle linkage, linkage extension, carburetors, and fuel pump
• Model Master 4679 Steel (SG): Intake manifold
• Mission Model MMW-005 Standard Rust: Exhaust manifold and Exhaust extension
• Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black: Oil Filler Tube, Ignition Coil and Crankcase Ventilation Tube

The gray dauphin in the background is not part of the engine. 😁

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The engine is almost complete. There are decals that need to be applied to the air cleaner canisters and some small touch up on the fan belt, engine block and oil filler tube. The exhaust extension pipe is just laying by the engine in the lower right image. It will be attached to the exhaust manifold after the engine is placed in the frame so that I can insure the extension will line up with the exhaust pipe. I will not be wiring this engine. There is not a lot of room to place the wires on the plugs. I'm still vacillating on this decision, but I am leaning heavily toward not wiring.

I am thinking about adding fuel lines between the carburetors and the fuel pump. I might also add some linkage between the carburetors and the throttle linkage. We'll see.

These photos were enhanced using Gimp to pump up the brightness, sharpness and contrast.

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The body has a first coat of Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green. I like the Tamiya acrylic paints; however, most of them are flat. I think the 'F' in the part number means flat. What I have learned is that putting one or two coats of Tamiya X-22 Clear makes the finish look as if it was a gloss paint.

There is a lot of chrome on the Hudson body and I'm not sure if I'll be using bare metal foil or a Molotow chrome pen. We'll see when the time comes to add chrome. I'm also not sure if I want to chrome before clear coat or after clear coat or putting a clear on, then adding chrome and then a second coat of clear? Again...we'll see.

These photos were enhanced using Gimp to pump up the brightness, sharpness and contrast.

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I masked off the roof and painted it with Tamiya X-1 Black. What is shown here is a first coat. I will need to be wet sanded and another coat applied. There was some bleeding under the tape, but it won't matter because it will be covered with bare metal foil or Molotow Chrome.

The body, in Yellow/Green is Tamiya X-4 Yellow Green, as I mentioned before. It is flat; however, when a clear coat is applied it should shine bright!

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The front and back seats are two tone. The dark gray has a a first coat. The paint is still very wet in these photos. A second coat will be applied and there is one small spot on the back seat that the light gray will have to be touched up.

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I started detailing the interior side panels. The arm rests will be dark gray and the window cranks and door handles will be done in Molotow Chrome.

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The exhaust pipe/muffler and drive shaft are installed through the access port and the cross member that holds them captive is installed. The floor pan is glued to the frame and the exhaust pipe and muffler are glued in place. To keep everything in place I used seven clamps. The yellow clamp is holding the muffler in position. The floor pan is large enough that it needed to be clamped in six locations. To glue it in place I used Tamiya quick set liquid cement on the alignment pins and then after the clamps were installed I ran some liquid cement around some of the outer seams between the frame and the floor pan.

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In this photo I'm attaching the rear axle housing and leaf springs. I'm clamping the springs and the axle housing in position. I must admit that as nice as this kit is, the instructions are much to be desired. The diagram did not really show where the front of the leaf spring should mount. I assumed it should be on the frame; however, they did not fit when placed on top of the frame. After doing some research I find that the front part of the springs is mounted to the floor and not the frame, as shown in this picture. I just found it odd that the springs would be mounted to the floor and not the frame.

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The rear suspension is assembled and the front suspension is being clamped in position while the glue sets. The cloth pins are holding the front sway bar in position. The bar had to be trimmed to fit properly into the front suspension.

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The interior is almost finished and is dry fitted in this photo. The interior door handles and window cranks are done with a Molotow Chrome pen. The dash board is being detailed and will be shown in a later photo.

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The back of the front seat with storage pouches done in light gray. The hold-on handles are done in brown to simulate being wood and the mounting points are done with a Molotow Chrome pen.

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A close up of the dash board with the instrument cluster and radio dial decals in place. The chrome was done with a Molotow Chrome pen.

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The next two photos is of the completed interior. The floor was flocked with charcoal gray flocking. The rear seat handles are done in brown and Molotow Chrome mounts.

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Closer view of the dash board and finished interior.

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The body as A LOT of chrome. This photo shows the lower chrome areas being done. I was going to use bare metal foil; however, I found that it was much easier to tape and use a Molotow Chrome pen. Also, the chrome that is around the windows is very small and a 1mm Molotow Chrome pen will work better...I hope.

Something I'm learning about the Molotow Chrome pen reinforces something I read online. The pen does not do well on painted surfaces, at least on acrylic paint. I think it's because Molotow Chrome is alcohol based and with acrylic water based paint, the paint seems to be pickup on the pen tip and clog the tip. And, it's not just the paint color, it's also the Tamiya X-22 acrylic clear that seems to eventually lift with the pen.

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I spent the past several days working on the body. There is A-LOT of chrome on this car. This photo is of the under side of the body. The sun visors, dome light, rear view mirror (difficult to see at this photo angle), all the glass; windshield, rear window, vent windows, rear side windows, and the firewall are installed. I did not paint the roof liner because when the body is placed on the frame, it's almost impossible to see it. There are also angle braces that are supposed to be mounted on the firewall. I left them off and will install them when the body is on the frame. I'm hoping this will insure that the braces will align better with the mounting locations.

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Click any of the four images to enlarge them.

The body is almost done. There had to be a small modification on the left tail light to make it fit correctly. All of the mounting holes for the chrome pieces had to be drilled larger. I used a vernier caliper to measure the stud on the chrome pieces and then drilled the mounting holes with the appropriate drill size.

I had the body setting on it's roof on a paper towel thinking it would protect the roof from being scratched or marred...WRONG! The Tamiya paint and Tamiya Clear was just not hard enough yet, and that was after leaving it set more than 3-days. The towel left it's pattern on the roof. I will try to buff it out with some Novus #2 and Novus #1 scratch remover and polish.

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This photo shows some of the marks left on the roof when I had the body setting upside down on a paper towel while working on the interior of the body.

It was a lot worse, but I buffed out as much as I could using Novus #2 Fine Scratch remover and #3 Plastic Polish, but it still left some marks. They show up worse under bright lighting as shown here. They are harder to see under normal room lighting.

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The raised portion on the trunk lid is supposed to be a chrome piece with the words HUDSON in it. It is not included on the chrome tree. I could have used a Molotow Chrome pen and applied the chrome, but then I would have to try to letter HUDSON in a very small space. I decided I'm not going to do that.

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