|
-
POSTING RULES

-
Donate yearly (please).
-
Advertise in here!
-
Today's Posts
|
Insert Pics
|

07-17-2014, 11:16 AM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2014
Location: jonesboro, ar
Posts: 63
|
|
7A build time
Vans says 1500 hours build time for the kit. I'm wondering how long people have spent on the empennage. Also how long for the individual sections, like the horizontal or vertical stabilizer. Any help would be appreciated.
|

07-17-2014, 11:30 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Danville, IN (West of Indy)
Posts: 199
|
|
I wish!
My log shows the following:
Empennage: 306 hrs 17 min
Wings: 680 hrs 47 min
Fuselage: 132 hrs 33 min
TOTAL: 1119 hrs 37 min I don't have any more detail than that. I'm obviously on the slower end of the range. Wings are 90% done and I've just started the fuselage.
Don't let the relative success (or failures for that matter) of others get you discouraged. The time to build varies WIDELY from person to person. I think the record for any kit is about 90 days. Others have taken 15+ years.
__________________
Michael
Danville, IN
RV-7A Canopy/Finishing
N317PU Reserved
2020 Dues paid (February 2020)
|

07-17-2014, 11:47 AM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2014
Location: jonesboro, ar
Posts: 63
|
|
Thank you. I'm just wanting to see if I'm in the ball park. Being new to this I'm still kind of skeptical whether I know what I'm doing or not, lol.
|

07-17-2014, 11:49 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Shreveport, LA
Posts: 1,002
|
|
I don't log my build time, but I would say it took me 4-5 months to get the tail finished and about a year and a half now to get the wings done (still need to do the ailerons and flaps)
I don't work consistently. sometimes its weeks between work sessions. I usually work anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours at a time. I just work when I feel like it, and stop a work session when I get tired.
Sorry I don't have more accurate information. Others will have better info and will chime in here I'm sure.
|

07-17-2014, 11:54 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Danville, IN (West of Indy)
Posts: 199
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueflyer
I don't work consistently. sometimes its weeks between work sessions.
|
+1 to that. The 1100+ hours I've logged to date are since September of 2009. I think there was even a stretch of 12-18 months where I did nothing. I was moving and changing jobs during that time. Life tends to get in the way sometimes. I'm lucky, in a sense, that I'm single with no kids. On the other hand I know that many a wife or girlfriend have been sources of motiviation for builders everywhere. No disrespect meant.
Build on!
__________________
Michael
Danville, IN
RV-7A Canopy/Finishing
N317PU Reserved
2020 Dues paid (February 2020)
|

07-17-2014, 11:54 AM
|
 |
Forum Peruser
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Austinville, Alabama
Posts: 2,458
|
|
You'll find that build times are totaled in differing ways. Some just count "touch labor" (fabrication, assembly, inspection and test), while others count "overhead" time like time in the shop which might include tuning the TV channel or popping the top on a beverage or actually time studying the plans.
As they say, YMMV. And remember, it's for education and recreation, not a time and motion study!
Really, "BoilermakerRV," do you really log time to the minute?
P.S. I probably should not be replying to the OP since I have taken over 11 years and haven't even finished the wings yet.  Of course, I did help take care of my dad after his stroke and then I had two heart surgeries in 2009. So I guess I do have some area for an excuse or two.
__________________
Don Hull
RV-7 Wings
KDCU Pryor Field
Pilots'n Paws Pilot
N79599/ADS-B In and Out...and I like it!
?Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights;
it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." Miriam Beard
Last edited by rv7boy : 07-17-2014 at 12:03 PM.
|

07-17-2014, 11:58 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Cedar Park, TX
Posts: 3,156
|
|
Yeah, time will be all over the place. My first build was about 2.5 years. Many long hard days. My second build I think is going on 7 years and just chugging along happy as a clam that I already have something to fly.
__________________
Scott Card
CQ Headset by Card Machine Works
CMW E-Lift
RV-9A N4822C flying 2200+hrs. / Cedar Park, TX
RV8 Building - fuselage / showplanes canopy (Done!)
|

07-17-2014, 12:03 PM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Danville, IN (West of Indy)
Posts: 199
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by rv7boy
Really, "BoilermakerRV," do you really log time to the minute? 
|
Yes, I do. But as they say, "there's an app for that". I use Timesheeter on my iPhone. I can't help it, it's the engineer in me.

__________________
Michael
Danville, IN
RV-7A Canopy/Finishing
N317PU Reserved
2020 Dues paid (February 2020)
|

07-17-2014, 12:12 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central IL
Posts: 5,516
|
|
Don't worry about the times. And certainly DONT RUSH. This is where you learn to pace yourself, read plans, learn how to do things, and most of all learn to THINK. The plan get worse and you progress and you will get smarter. That will pay off as you progress through the project. I bought a project in process and I had a lot to learn.
Rushing will lead to typical emp problems like
oops, i smacked the frame simpler and made a new hole,
oops, I was back riveting and tried to rivet OFF THE PLATE.
Go easy, steady, and the skill learned will save the time and make the progress appear like magic.
It is building, not assembly, and certainly not a competition.
__________________
Bill
RV-7
Lord Kelvin:
“I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about,
and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you
cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge
is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.”
|

07-17-2014, 12:33 PM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Sherwood, Oregon
Posts: 981
|
|
I'm Like Boilermaker
When I started my QB rv6a back about 14 yrs ago, Van allowed as how it would be done in 1000 hrs. Being a numbers type of guy I religiously recorded each minute as per "Boilermaker" above.
Please note I recorded not only hands-on time, but every bit of manual reading, head scratching, staring at plans, trips to Van's for parts/advice (10 miles away), etc. In other words, everything I had to do related directly to the finished project
I stopped counting at 3000 hrs...  6 years to first flight then another 6 months to tidy up fairings and prep for painting. A WAG would be 6000 hrs, equivalent to 3 yrs full time work. Yeas, I am slow and anal.
Would I do it again? only if I were 14 yrs younger. But, there are quite a few very nice RV's that one can buy for the same cost or lower as building. If you love to build go that route as many have. Otherwise, buy a good one.
__________________
Jerry Cochran
Sherwood, Oregon
RV-7a 707DD Bot from David Domeier 12/01/11
Lycoming IO-360 Catto 3 blade Panel upgrade in progress
RV6a 18XP 1st flite 03/21/07 sold to Dale Walter 10/22/2011
Superior IO-360, Hartzell Blended, GRT/Dynon
Happily "autopaying" DR
"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself."
Mark Twain
|
| Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
|
| Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:17 AM.
|