How Do I Love Thee? Uh...I Don't

All of us have things we'd rather not do, clean the gutters on the house, shovel snow, or eat spinach.  Even when it comes to this hobby, there are things we don't really like to do.  I have a buddy that does some great scratch building, absolutely fantastic stuff, but hates to paint.  All of his stuff spends years on primer hell, never to be finished, so he usually just sells them almost done.  I run into lots of guys who hate to detail kits, they like their kits closer to box stock. Interestingly, they seem to be fascinated by other people's models that have gobs of details added.  Photo etch, plug wires, throttle linkages, resin parts, and any other multitude of little gee-gaws will usually draw a crowd around a model.  Others don't like to weather their models, they like them clean as the day they drove out of the factory.  My one buddy says, "Can't do it, won't do it, don't wanna try."  That about sums it up, his builds will always be pristine.
So what is it that I hate more than a root canal?  Body work.  I can't stand the endless filling and sanding, over and over without end.  It seems to me that I fill an area, sand it, prime it, and ta-da, there it is, the low spot that needs filled again.  Every time I prime, all of the body work underneath shows up like a bad penny.  I know it's just part of the process,  but come on, why can't it just be right the first time?  I once had a four year project chopping the top on the old  AMT 49 Merc (Revell's is already chopped, but it was still years away from being released) partly because I had no idea that I had to also lengthen and widen the roof and partly because I became so frustrated with the filler shrinking under the primer.  I have tried every type of filler known to man and they all seem to shrink when covered with primer.  My buddy that has a bodyshop just tells me to reprime and blocksand, it's just how it works.  Well, that may be the way it works, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
So after reading the above paragraph, you would assume that I usually build my cars with the bodies as close to stock as possible.  Nope. Not even close.  I have two projects on my bench right now that involve bodywork, a '68 Mustang that I widened 1/8" on each side and a '57 Ford I cut the top off and filled the giant hole to make a salt flat car.  I also have a '64 Marauder I'm altering the wheelbase a la 1960's A F/X car, and I'm doing the same to a '62 T-Bird and another '57 Ford that I'm also going to stretch the nose on.  Why would someone who hates body work attempt all of these projects?  Because I like a challenge and I'm kinda stubborn.  Wait, did I say kinda?  I meant really stubborn.  I want certain kits to look a certain way and I ain't takin' no fer an answer!!  If I can spend four years chopping a 1/25th scale top, I can do this.
"Rat Fink" Ron