Longest build time for an RV-8 ...?

Not quite Don, but my brother is hoping for the title. He's at 10+ now. So if you hurry and finish yours, he can move up in the rankings

Chris

Build time

As one of the few builders on the list that has actually slaved on N8RV, I can inform the inquiring minds of VAF that Don's 8 is about a month from completion. The average month has thirty (30) days. Working everyday for thirty days, the plane would be complete in a single calendar month. Working weekends only, Don would complete eight (8) days in a calendar month, thus would take a little more than (4) months to complete. Working one (1) day a month would require thirty (30) months, or another two and one half years to complete!

Ok Don, which will it be? Inquiring minds want to know!

Don, call or email me. I need all of your phone numbers again. Don't ask!

Good analysis, Danny. However, you left out a factor to consider ...

With sufficient time between work sessions, it takes a day or two just to remember where I was and what I was doing to get up to speed! Therefore, applying that factoid to your analysis, N8RV WILL NEVER FLY!

If you don't think it is ever gonna fly, you might as well give me that N number!!! Just kidding.

I bought a set of wings last fall and got a tail with them, It is one of the first tails, circa 1996 or so.

Keep building, you will be done in no time.

Eh, ya'll quit yer yappin' and git'r DONE!!

Is this a new classification for "High Time RV8" status?

What say ye, Danny?

You still got it?!

Dang, Brian, I can't believe you still have that empecone! I finally sold the '59 C172 and on Memorial Day moved the rolling fuse with horizontal and vertical stabs in place to my hangar. Hung the wings the following weekend (still have some H/W to complete) and then it's just a couple weekends of assembly to have her ready for first engine start. Getting close! Expect to have her at LOE this year.

"Is this a new classification for "High Time RV8" status?
What say ye, Danny?"
Brian

Sounds good Brian. Let's give Doctor Don the award. He is the true "High Time" RV-8er among us. Smokey is a very nice RV-8. Waiting has caused N8RV to have a very modern panel, and the perfect engine for the airframe. Good things come to those that wait!

Still chuggin' along ...

OK, sports fans, Smokey (N8RV) has taken a giant step forward this weekend. With help from friends and neighbors, Smokey and his various pieces-parts made the trek from the garage/shop to the hangar!

We bolted the tail spring to a receiver hitch and towed it a few miles away to the airport...


The ride to the airport was thankfully uneventful, but there were a few smiles and stares along the way ...


After sweating whether the plywood plugs I'd made a decade ago were accurate or whether I'd find that my spars wouldn't fit into the center section, we greased the spar a little and, with some wiggling, it slid right in! 15 minutes to plug in the left wing ... 5 for the right ...


That's the latest. With Bob Dimeo and Kevin Horton done, I'm one of the few Old Timers still procrastinating. Guess it's time to "git-er-done".

Wow!! Congrats Don! You are closer than I thought. Still lots to do, but the end is in sight. Keep up the momentum.

that thing sure is lookin great!! i can't wait till i'm that close!!

congrats

Depends on how you count... I was the first customer with RV8 tail kit parts (I was #80047 but I drove out there before they were even crating and drove away with a trunk full of aluminum) but sold that kit because of a move. I'm now back at work with a quickbuild from a little over a year ago, so in a way I'm just getting started and in a way I've been building an RV8 for about as long as they've been 'being built.'

I don't know...........when I visited Don's project, we took a horse and buggy ride from Wakarusa. We are driving cars now!!

Griff said:

I don't know...........when I visited Don's project, we took a horse and buggy ride from Wakarusa. We are driving cars now!!

Click to expand...

HA!! Good one, Griff. At the rate that I'm going, everybody will be zipping around in flying cars like the Jetson's by the time I finish!

Not all bad, though ... it'll be like owning a BRAND-NEW Model T Ford then!

Update

Just an update ...

Last weekend, we flew down to DFW for a wedding. I had some free time, so I dropped in on Danny King just to bug him. Hung out at 52F for a while. After seeing some of the painting that Danny's done over the years (yes, he has painted more than Beautiful Doll), he convinced me that I was certifiably nuts to even contemplate painting Smokey by myself.

So, having done NOTHING on the plane for the last several months -- I had disassembled the plane to start the painful prep and paint on the smaller pieces -- I succumbed to Danny's rationale and decided to put the darned thing together and get it into the air and THEN have it professionally painted.

I awoke on Saturday with a renewed vigor as I drove to the hangar to start putting Smokey together AGAIN, but hopefully for the last time.

By last night, with occasional interruptions by interested onlookers, I had the empennage bolted on, the elevators hung and hooked up. The right wing went into place, as did the bolts.

So, after almost 13 years, Smokey's actually getting closer to making a maiden voyage.

Stay tuned.

congratulations

I wish I was that far along......some day sooooooonnnnnn

Mine's SN 80055, and it took me from May 96 to December 2007 to get it in the air....But it's SOOOO worth it!

OK, Don, it's now the middle of May, 2009.

HOW'S IT COMING??

Bob
N802RV

going for the record

Gentelmen I am going for the record. My father and fellow Pilot, said I have a really good start at setting a new record... My ship date on the RV 8 Emp Kits is April 26, 2007. I just inventoried the kit yesturday, May 20, 2009... I don't like to rush a good thing....Much to my supprise all the parts were there... Now that I have completed the Vans Practice Kit. I will start with the VS. My father, that has assumed the Crew Cheif Position on this project, as with all project before this one. LOL Is now busting my balls to start the emp. He says that I still need motivation and direction.... (I think I remember that speach when I was about 16 years old) All kidding asside. I am finnally starting the VS. So all of you dragging your feet. This is your chance not to be the one holding this record. Start bucking you could actually get yours done before I do.....




Better get a move on, I'm going to beat you!!!!!!!!!

rvbobbyd said:

OK, Don, it's now the middle of May, 2009.

HOW'S IT COMING??

Bob
N802RV

Click to expand...

Ummm ... errr ... uhhh ...

Well, Bob, it's like this ... you see, a year ago we had a flood in our house -- a water line broke. We just last weekend moved back in. So, after putting on one wing and the tail feathers, I sorta hit a standstill again.

As long as the weather's good, I have WORK to do. On crappy weekend days, I can head out to the hangar and plug in that other wing.

All in good time, my pretty, all in good time ... [insert wicked laugh here]

Done but not inspected @ 11 years!

Don,

Does the build time include up to the time it flys? I picked up my tail kit @ Van's (the OLD Van's) in March '98. It's done (kinda) but waiting to be inspected. I wonder if being a dentist slows things down as my dad and building partner is a retired dentist. As a dog doctor, on the other hand, I can remove a dog's testicles in 6 minutes. I think you guys are a little too meticulous!

West Texas 8 said:

Don,

Does the build time include up to the time it flys? I picked up my tail kit @ Van's (the OLD Van's) in March '98. It's done (kinda) but waiting to be inspected. I wonder if being a dentist slows things down as my dad and building partner is a retired dentist. As a dog doctor, on the other hand, I can remove a dog's testicles in 6 minutes. I think you guys are a little too meticulous!

Click to expand...

Meticulous AND lazy! Eewwwooo ... did you have to mention the testicle-thing? Now I'm fidgeting ...

Smoke is alive ... he is ALIIIIIIIVVVEEEEE ....

Well, 13 years and 1 day after the arrival of my tail kit -- and with a frantic call to my friend and mentor, Danny King, SMOKEY LIVES! With a sputter and cough (non of this "three blades and it ran like a champ" stuff here, folks), the AeroSport IO360 sprang to life and THEN ran like a champ!

I'll post a video for any interested parties once I figure out how ...

Guess it's time to pay some taxes and call the DAR ... YIPPEE!!!

Just when you had come to be able to count on certain things being absolute....

1) The earth is round...
2) Gravity works....
3) Don is still building his -8....

This might cause a rift in the space-time continuum!

Congrats!

Wow. Flipping amazing. Congrats Don!!

Good luck finishing off all the last little things, etc. Don't rush things now. It'll fly when its ready.

Congrats Don

Smokey just might defy gravity and fly soon! I hope I'm there to see it. I feel a tremble in the force.

Oh ****! Now I'm probably the slowest RV-8 builder in the world.

SMOKEY FLIES...!

Yup. After 13 years and a few hectic weeks, N8RV ("Smokey") took wing for the first time! With my fearless volunteer test pilot at the controls, Danny "Sky" King, a nearly flawless first flight was made mere moments after Smokey received his Special Airworthiness Certificate ...


After the inspector left, Danny cast his gaze skyward and proclaimed the day worthy of a first flight. He climbed into the cockpit, strapped in, and I gave him a good systems checkout.

He fired up the engine while the spousal units and I trudged across the open field to find good vantage points from which to observe and immortalize the event. After a successful runup of the engine, N8RV took to the air like it was born to fly! Well ... I guess it was. He used only about 300 feet of runway and climbed out like ... like ... well, like an RV!

And, of course, I missed it all. Well, I didn't actually miss it, but I watched it the same way I watched my kids score their first touchdowns, slide into home plate for the winning run, clinch a tough match in a tie-breaker and kick the last goal at the end of a soccer match -- through a tiny view screen of a camcorder. *sigh* I've seen a lot of life through replays.

Anyway, Danny flew Smokey around for about 30 minutes, testing trim, controls, flaps, engine performance, slow flight, stalls ... As he explained it later, "All of your screwups over 13 years somehow canceled each other out and it flies hands-off!" Nice guy.

He brought Smokey around for a photo pass ...



... and set up for a perfect squeaker of a wheel landing ...


Danny exhibited the famous "RV grin" as he shut down ...



... and the aircraft manufacturer (yours truly) joined in for the requisite photos for posterity, taken by our respective spousal units ...


There were a few squawks, naturally. Little stuff like I wired the pitch trim backwards. And the EFIS had no readout. ZERO airspeed. And I had 61" of manifold pressure (without water injection!). And the altitude hold button was actually a LOOP button!

We put some time in the next morning and fixed the bugs and Danny felt compelled to burn off some more of my gas. Small price for the reassurance that the wings won't fall off when I fly it, IMO.

The only thing left to do now is to get ME ready to fly! Been a while ... about a decade.

Many heartfelt thanks to fellow builders over the years without whose help Smokey would never have seen the light of day:

Phil Arter (#80005 -- RIP)
Jerry Thornton (RV-6A -- my rivet bucker -- RIP -- Sorry I took so long, buddy )
Danny "Sky" King (Master Builder, Friend and Sucker Test Pilot)
Jon Ross ("I just KNOW that my plane is faster ...")
Scott Jordan ("Don't make me come out there and kick your butt in gear.")
Rich & Karol Hansen (RV-6A -- never met a friendlier family!)
Kevin Horton (seriously ... what can I say? He could've designed this thing!)
George Orndorff (he doesn't know me, but I sure know him!)
Van the Man ('nuff said)
Doug Reeves (like he hasn't received enough accolades lately -- sheesh!)

And many others who have helped along the way in big ways and small. Please forgive me if I've neglected mentioning you by name. By sharing your trials and tribulations, you've helped others build right and fly safely.

Take heart, you fellow slow-builders ... I MADE IT ... SO WILL YOU!!

Thanks

Now I don't feel so bad...lol. I have been working my RV8 for 6 years now and I'm still a long way from being done. Hopfully I'll be done before 12 but you never know....Good luck, It looks good.
Matt