Excellent job as always, my friend @gblair! Some work will always be ahead when dealing with an MPM kit, even "later" releases, such as this, no problem for your excellent skills, just some extra time. Always a good thing to have the extra sprue pieces for other versions,even better in your case that you actually build them.

Hi Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb): Once again, not an obstacle, just annoying. Nothing that filler and sanding won't fix. I see a lot of panel line restoration in my future. Time has been limited lately thanks to some medical issues for both my wife and me. I am really not aging very gracefully. :o)

Truly excellent job so far, tackling the kits' idiosyncrasies, my friend @gblair! Indeed, maybe going on with the Revell and let the other two idle for awhile might not be too bad of an idea. Good decision to use the kit engines, they will look great in the cowling!

I see you have been whipping the kits into shape, George (@gblair). Or is it the other way around? 🙂

Seriously though, my take on this is that it's a hobby regardless of the amount of time it takes to complete. Don't let it get to your health. It's not worth that. I would suggest that rather than setting the kits aside, you add something easier to the mix and switch back and forth between them periodically. It will take longer to complete each model, but it spares you the tedium of a continuous slog. Eventually, you get a project to the final stage of painting and then you can focus on it more exclusively to get it across the finish line.

Of course, you know this and I guess this is my way of trying to offer some encouragement. I can definitely relate to the age thing. I'm no spring chicken.

It does look like the kits are coming along well and I am sure that once they are fully assembled and you start the final painting, you will find the fun improving. Sanding is always the hard part of building.

I had "paw-paw" duties today, but I managed to get some things done. Wings and the tails are done for all three, and hopefully I can get them attached to the fuselages tomorrow. The optional portion of the top deck is installed in all three. There is one plane with the section for the turret, there is one that has a turret section, but no turret, and one has no provision for a turret. The nose is installed on all three. The Revell plane required a plastic filler piece to spread the fuselage to fit the glass nose section. You would assume, since all three kits are from the same molds, that all three would require the same filler piece. Luckily I checked the fit on all three before I committed to gluing the clear nose. While the Revell and the MPM kits both required the filler piece, the nose on the Italeri kit fit perfectly with no filler piece. Filler and sanding need to be done on all three. More fun tomorrow. Cheers.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Hi Louis (@lgardner): Glad to have you following along. I understand about real life getting in the way of modeling. Cindy and I have both been dealing with some medical issues. Nothing serious, just annoying and requiring several doctor visits. I will bet your wife's truck looks really nice. You have done a ton of work on it. One of the cool things about moving into a new house is that I won't need to worry about painting for a while.

I got moving along again this evening on all three of the kits, so I think I can power through the whole gaggle. I also dug out the old Minicraft 1/72 Ventura. I am constantly getting the Hudson and Ventura confused, so I want to build a Ventura to go with the Hudsons.

There are a lot of cool paint schemes and aircraft configurations for the Hudson. I am building one in a standard configuration and two that had no turret. One of these had the turret location faired over and was used in North Africa. The other one is sort of interesting. Many of the early deliveries of the Hudsons to the RAF were delivered without a turret installed, and the British turret was installed upon arrival in England. The need was so great for these planes, that some went to squadrons and were initially used without a turret. In these cases, a metal plate was welded into the recess for the turret until the plane could be spared for turret installation. So, my three planes: one with a turret, one with the hole for the turret (but no turret), and one slick with no provision for a turret.

3D printing has a lot of highs and lows, but is fun. My wife is getting me a larger printer for Christmas. It prints using resin filament rather than liquid resin. It will print much larger things, like a radio control boat that I have my eye on. You can print large sections of the hull and superstructure and then glue/bolt them together to form a rather large model.

Thanks for the encouraging words, Spiros (@fiveten). I will get through all three if for no other reason than stubborness.

Thanks, John (@johnb). I think others probably would have been smart enough not to do three at a time. :o)