So I started building my empennage last May. I'm getting close to finishing the elevators. Just need to rivet the trailing edges and then the trim tabs, which are also partially done already (bent, horns riveted, spar riveted on one side). Then I'll get to the tailcone. My rough estimate, by May this year I should be finished with the empennage kit or very close.
So this is one year for the first kit. How should I look at the future kits? Should I assume it'll take me roughly a year to build each kit? Or should I rather think in terms of how big the kit is? Considering the empennage costs $4,325, while the wing kit is $11,450, should I plan to spend 2.5 years building the wings? Continuing with this logic, Wing, Fuselage, and Finishing come to 10.5 years left to build. And that also doesn't include any firewall-forward work.
I know that both of my ways to estimate are the extremes and probably not very close to reality, but I wasn't able to find the breakdown here. Basically, I'm looking for the multipliers - if it takes 1 year to build the empennage, it will take X years to build the wings, Y years for the fuselage, and Z years for finishing. I'm at a stage where I need to make the next decision. My options are as follows:
- Buy a slow build wing kit
- Buy quick build wing and fuselage kits
- Stop spending money on sheet aluminum and use it instead to rent and fly a Cirrus from the local club.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy building it. I enjoy it enough to justify spending $10k on the tools and the first kit, but probably not enough to spend another $40k if I'm not going to fly in the next 10 years.
So this is one year for the first kit. How should I look at the future kits? Should I assume it'll take me roughly a year to build each kit? Or should I rather think in terms of how big the kit is? Considering the empennage costs $4,325, while the wing kit is $11,450, should I plan to spend 2.5 years building the wings? Continuing with this logic, Wing, Fuselage, and Finishing come to 10.5 years left to build. And that also doesn't include any firewall-forward work.
I know that both of my ways to estimate are the extremes and probably not very close to reality, but I wasn't able to find the breakdown here. Basically, I'm looking for the multipliers - if it takes 1 year to build the empennage, it will take X years to build the wings, Y years for the fuselage, and Z years for finishing. I'm at a stage where I need to make the next decision. My options are as follows:
- Buy a slow build wing kit
- Buy quick build wing and fuselage kits
- Stop spending money on sheet aluminum and use it instead to rent and fly a Cirrus from the local club.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy building it. I enjoy it enough to justify spending $10k on the tools and the first kit, but probably not enough to spend another $40k if I'm not going to fly in the next 10 years.