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Actual build times?

C

chinch

Active Member
Hi everyone.

I'm trying to do the maths on QB vs standard RV8 kit. When I first started my -8 emp kit back in 1998, the standard kit was widely thought to require ~2000 build hours. But since then, kits are now prepunched (on what work I was able to do on the emp, I spent a LOT of extra hours agonizing over jigs and alignment) and the QB kits are also available.

Does anyone have *actual* build times from workshop ready to flying on an 8 or 8a, QB or standard?

Thanks very much in advance
Chris
 
chinch said:
Hi everyone.

I'm trying to do the maths on QB vs standard RV8 kit.
Does anyone have *actual* build times from workshop ready to flying on an 8 or 8a, QB or standard?
Chris
Click to expand...

Chris, I have several friends who have done QB's and several friends who have done standard Kits.

First off, a lot depends on the quality of construction you want. Do yo want an "averege" RV with a VFR panel or one approaching "show quality" with the latest and greatest IFR panel? Secondly, I have come to the conclusion that "build times" (in hours) are misleading. I tend to think of "build time" in terms of years (that is if you , like most of us, are a part time builder)!

All that being said, I'd say build time for an "average QB RV" would be 2-3 years and 4-5 years for an "averege standard kit". If you want show quality add another year or two! Hope this helps!

IMHO,

Tommy
 
slow build

I'm about to finish the canopy and I'm at 1200 hours and 2 years calendar time. I work full time (more than full time) but kids are grown and moved. So I work on it a couple hours a day and weekends. It's only taken two years to build the empennage, wings, fuselage, and canopy. And I've learned a lot. The thing about the fast build is will you really learn the skills you want and need to work on it in the future. I doubt it. Go slow build.
 
One year in...

I started on my RV-9A empennage 8/20/09. Took 2 months to complete and immediately started on the wings. Finished them in 6 months. Started on the fuselage 4/26/10. As of this week I'm working on the brake pedals and forward fuselage. Still have several months at least before the fuselage is done. Not sure when I'll pull the trigger on the really expensive stuff (engine/avionics) since I have 2 kids in college to pay for.

I work on the project pretty much every evening for a couple of hours and on the weekends between other household chores. I've probably taken 60 days off in the last year due to travel and family commitments. Not really keeping track of the hours. It goes by fast if you keep a steady pace. I started out with a 5 year plan, but will hopefully have it flying in much less time. It is going together much faster than I thought it would.
 
My slow build RV-8 took two years. Empenage 2 month, Wings 8 months, fuselage at quick build stage 2 months, finish kit 4 to 5 months, Instrument and FF 2 or 3 months, painting 4 months.

I worked on my free days, about 10 days a month 10 hours a day.
 
Speaking of hours my RV probably wins. I spent approximately 35,040 hours already (started in 2006) and still not done :D What's your method of counting the hours?
 
time

I have built about 36 Rvs. Most of them have been with the owners helping with the build.
I have built 7 solo. Most have taken me around 600 hours to build the QB to a rolling airframe, including FWF. The rest of the story is,,,,,, the panel and glass parts take about another 400 hours. 1000 hours to build a RV8,7 QB, carb, vfr...

Add a bunch of hours to make it a nose roller, fulie, IFR,

I like to build a simple RV. Keep it simple and build your RV light. It will kik A.....
 
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Vlad said:
Speaking of hours my RV probably wins. I spent approximately 35,040 hours already (started in 2006) and still not done :D What's your method of counting the hours?
Click to expand...

Hah! I squeezed my first rivet on my 8 back in 1998, ...lemme see, carry the one, add my shoe size, I make it over 100,000 hours and the skin still isn't on the HS! That's got to be a record.... (of shame :()
 
Are we all on the same page?

Vlad said:
What's your method of counting the hours?
Click to expand...
Build time? That's easy. The time starts the day you take possession of the empennage kit. The time ends the day you receive the airworthiness certificate. The builder can offer up any qualifiers he wants in an effort to explain away all the time....productive or otherwise that passes between those two milestone dates. For instance, even though I completed the empennage kit in less than 3 weeks, it sat almost completely finished in my basement for 2 years before I finally got around to ordering the advanced match hole standard fuselage kit. From that point on, the RV-8 took 24 months of 99.5% solo labor to complete. So in reality although it took only 2 actual years of hands-on labor to build the RV-8, 4 years of human lifetime on this Earth actually passed.



Some would argue the plane is not really done until it is painted. That is an irrelevant, needlessly confusing standard. I would argue the plane is done when by the FAA's standards...it is considered airworthy and LEGAL to fly.
 
I think he's trying to get an idea about what the difference in build times are for QB VS SL My guess for an RV 9 the the difference is 150-300 hours. Most of my time was spent on finishing and firewall forward kits.
 
Build Time

As a first time builder it took 1200 hours over three years to complete to first flight and QB RV-7a. I thought I was just building to have something I could afford to fly but wound up loving the building process. It is great fun.
 
I started the empennage of my standard RV-8 kit in May 2009, and after working 6 days a week and 8 hours a day, I plan to put the wings on fuselage this month, canopy done, engine installed but not equipped, inst. panel almost finished, planned to fly on spring 2011
 
My RV-6 QB took 2700 hours over 4 1/2 years from starting the empennage to first flight (unpainted). My second plane (RV-8) was standard build, except the wings, and took 1700 hours over 2 years, and that was from start to finish, including the 40 hours flown off and painted. Learning curve is steep. I had the fuselage kit on the -8 to QB stage in two months (with a full time job). The only reason I got QB wings on the -8 was because when I called to order the tail kit, they had a set of QB wings on the shelf that nobody wanted. Match drilling takes away a lot of the time advantage of a QB. Whatever way you go, it's still fun. If it's your first build, a QB will save you more time, and you'll end up with a more precisely built airplane. If it's your second or more, you can easily match QB quality, and won't actually save time when you consider the time delay in waiting for a QB to be built and delivered (usually). I would like to build another one (even though I don't need it), because I enjoy it, and if I do, it won't be a QB. If you don't enjoy building things and just want to fly soon, I think you should consider the QB.
 
Speaking of hours my RV probably wins. I spent approximately 35,040 hours already (started in 2006) and still not done What's your method of counting the hours?
Click to expand...
Are those Cyrillic, metric, or Imperial hours?
 
RV-8 QB time

Hi,

I worked about 3+ evenings a week, plus at least one, usually both days of the weekend. It took me 2 yr, 3 months to fly, but that includes 4 months that it sat at the paint shop and I didn't have anything to work on, so really less than 2 years.

My builder log shows 1400 hrs for me, and 400 hrs for a friend that helped a lot.
I spent a lot of time on wiring, and a lot of time on FWF, even though it is a simple VFR day/night airplane. I was pretty slow at baffles, (which paid off, very nice CHT's) and I was pretty slow at FWF arrangement, especially wiring all the sensors for the EMS.

Deviations from the kit add time very fast - and don't matter whether they are slow-build or fast-build. For example, removeable floor panels - something like 300 nutplates over several evenings instead of banging in 500 pop rivets in one night. Also, priming all the pieces adds a lot of time compared to an unprimed airplane.

Hope that helps.
 
I apologise...

... for contributing to hijacking my own thread by replying to Vlad - but it was too good an opportunity not to share my secret shame!! :) :)

My key driver here is that I want to get a realistic idea of how long a build will take for a first time builder who wants to build a really nice airplane. Not award winning, but with attention to detail. Given that my hours per week is likely to be focused but limited (a Doug Reeves type refrigerator contract is likely to call out 15 hours per calendar week), my QB decision will come down to cost versus how long before I can fly my -8.
 
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:)
aerhed said:
Are those Cyrillic, metric, or Imperial hours?
Click to expand...


None mentioned. Those are made of New York minutes therefore the fastest ones :D


Great thread Chris! Now get back to work :)

Rick excellent points as usual. Great illustration!
 
actual build times

Hi Steve, I agree there is much to learn especially from slow build. Pete
sglynn said:
I'm about to finish the canopy and I'm at 1200 hours and 2 years calendar time. I work full time (more than full time) but kids are grown and moved. So I work on it a couple hours a day and weekends. It's only taken two years to build the empennage, wings, fuselage, and canopy. And I've learned a lot. The thing about the fast build is will you really learn the skills you want and need to work on it in the future. I doubt it. Go slow build.
Click to expand...
 
Defining Build Time

I think it depends on how you define build time. I'm approaching 6 years since starting my -8A emp - and that's for a QB. Unfortunately my real job has me on the road quite a bit (a random metric - 19 trips between Jan and Jul of 2009 to Huntsville, AL, fm Ridgecrest, CA) so I am faced with a reducation learning curve on many occasions.

In logging my build time, I use time in the shop either doing physical construction or staring at plans/instructions.

~2200 hrs. so far - still need to attach windscreen and emp fairing and a zillion other minor tasks, take it to the airport then put it all back together.
 
RV-7 QB

About 2200 hours from tail kit to FF, solo build. And "With A Little Help From My Friends". My first RV. I logged it all in an SQL database so I could crunch the numbers and dates.. (just in case I ever want to do it again....):eek:
 
Ill let you know!

I will add up all the hours that I write on my aviation calenders each day I do anything on my slow build 6.

I wont do this till I am done, I want it to be a surprise.;)
 
I'm not flying yet

Currently I'm in the finishing stage and I have 1700 hrs and 4 yrs on my RV-8. It's a slow build -1 kit. I'll probably come in at around 22000-2500 and 4.5-5yrs. To be fair I have done several time-sucking mods - windshield mod, access panels for avoinics and battery, smoke oil system scratch-built and installed, used powerplant (big time sucker) w/ conversion from FP to CS prop, etc.
BTW - this is my first build.
 
5 years and counting.

On a Quickbuild. 6 if you count the ordering of the preview plans. Part of it is the need to balance building with everything else life tends to toss at me. Not only that, I'm on the pay-as-you-go plan and it took me a few years to save up the extra money for all the bits and pieces.
 
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