Actual time to build

I have my 9A ready for first flight now (won't happen for a couple weeks due to family commitments), but my total actual hours spent in the process of building it were logged pretty carefully and I came up to 1891 hours. Admittedly I added some mods that took up a lot of extra time, notably the extended range Tuckey-style outboard wing tanks, a full glass panel that I wired entirely myself, all-electric fuel system, a few other items as well. I think I probably added 150 realistic hours on those mods over a "stock" build.

Just one data point, wondering where others have fallen, if you've even kept track.

RV-7A QB, mostly to plans except for minor deviations (sika canopy, etc.).
4.5 years, 1549 hours build.

Congratulations!!

airguy said:

I have my 9A ready for first flight now

Click to expand...

Congrats on reaching this milestone

Standard Build RV-9A - 3060 hours

I tracked my hours and my wife's time working on the RV-9A very carefully. 3060 person-hours from opening the empennage boxes to ready for first flight. Standard build RV-9A; no deviations from plans.

This is the first RV that I built but it was my second aircraft building project. BTW, I enjoyed every one of those 3060 hours.

Took me 6 years. Never saw much merit in tracking every hour, but that's just me.

I probably spent more time reading and studying the plans and looking at this site than building.

Build hrs

-9A, tip-up. QB Wings & Fuse. 1660 hrs hands on build time.

RV-8

My "Quick Build" RV-8 took 6 years and 2500 hours. I started out thinking I was building the space shuttle, by the end I looked at it more like it was a tractor.

Cheers

Nige

Time

The 'Borrowed Horse' RV8 QB took about 1000 hours, and was flying in 14 months.

2000 hrs just to finish one up! 1000 hrs building, 1000 hrs scratchin my head!