s10sakota

s10sakota

Well Known Member
For those who are finished building, which took longer to build, the fuselage or the wings?

I've been working on these wings for almost three years now, although I did take some time off in the middle.

My fuselage and finish kit will arrive here next week and I'm wondering based on my time with the wings, what I can expect for build time with the rest of the plane.

The reason I ask is that although I LOVE building (this is my 3rd plane) I REALLY miss flying.

Today in Michigan we had the kind of weather where I could not stop looking up. I was dreaming of all the places I could go if I had an airplane.

I'm thinking of buying an older Cessna just for something to fly for the next few years. Yes it will slow down the RV progress slightly, but that's ok. As long as I have an airplane to fly, I don't particularly care what it is.
 
Hard to say as it depends on you!

Wings have lots more manual work to be done in terms of actual metal work, fuselage has more thinking with systems, wiring, FWF etc. Not to mention fiberglass! :)
 
I found the wings monotonous (flute, drill, deburr, dimple, lather, rinse, repeat), so they took a couple of years.

The fuselage (IMO) was interesting and took me about 6 months to go from crate arrival to canoe flipping.
 
Sure feel for you.

I wouldn't have started my RV-3B project if I didn't already have a capable airplane to fly. Sometimes it's time to build and sometimes it's time to fly.

Dave
P.S. Wings are taking longer than expected.
 
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I totally agree about the wings being monotonous! I'm sick of looking at them! I think the fuselage would be a lot more fun just because that's the 'airplane' part.

For now, I'm excited to be riveting the bottom wing skins. Can't wait to pack these wings away :D
 
I am interested to see some of these responses too. I just clecoed on my skins for final riveting. The catalyst to get me out to the garage to complete the skinning.......I am tired of the big wing stand taking up all my space!
 
wings

blueflyer said:
I am interested to see some of these responses too. I just clecoed on my skins for final riveting. The catalyst to get me out to the garage to complete the skinning.......I am tired of the big wing stand taking up all my space!
Click to expand...

Make that 3.
I'm ready to start riveting the bottom skins and see these things in a cradle.
 
My wings took about 10 months; I did them one at a time, and by the end I was definitely a bit bored with them. I started my fuselage about 4 months ago, and am about to roll the canoe. I feel like it's going a bit faster now that I am fairly adept at most jobs, and screw up (a little bit) less. It's hard to estimate total fuselage build time though, because I think it will start blending into finishing kit, electrical, etc, so there may not be a day when I say, "okay, fuselage is done." From this point in the build it seems there is a less of a specific order to things; just a huge list of things to get done eventually.

Chris
 
Emp - 2 months
SB Wings - 5 months.
QB fuse, finish kit, engine, firewall forward, avionics, rigging - 2 years.

So at my closure rate that's 12 years to go:eek:
 
According to my build log I got the wings structurally complete (no fiberglass work) in 617 hours. I'm 414 hours into the fuselage, and just today disassembled the forward fuselage and separated the center section from the aft section after completing drilling. I'm notorious for underestimating how much time a particular job will take, but I'm fairly confident I can get the fuselage structurally complete (no finish kit) in at least a little less time that I spent on the wings.

PS: Mark, if you might be interested in a C-170B, let me know...
 
3 years on the wings??? You need to get out to the shop more often and put in the hours to finish these. Building the wings might be much more repetitive and boring, but you can get a lot done in a short amount of time towards completion. The wing tanks are probably the worst chunk of time.

I spent 2 months on the tail, 6 months on the wings and about 2 years on the fuselage (not counting the canopy).

It is easier to "complete" the wings and get them totally done, than it is with the fuselage. The fuselage has a number of starts and stops to work on wiring, plumbing, canopy, etc.

My advice, get the wings entirely done and set aside, then start the fuselage. Before you start the fuselage, be entirely set on what sort of avionics and engine package you are going to use. I spent a lot of wasted time deciding on that kind of stuff as I built, and it really will slow you down.
 
Fuselage

Forget about what engine and panel you want , things change .My 8 is painted and reassembled and still undecided on a panel .The Fuselage takes about the same time as the wings . I built the airframe ( tail,wings,fuselage)in about 800 to 900 hours
I spent more time on my cowl and and skirts than it took to build the wings !
I painted it my self (400 to 500 hours ) and will have 2000 to 2200 of build time when the plane is ready for first flight .
I would not be in a hurry for an engine , you can fit the cowl with a scrap block and prop hub.
Do a little each day , lots of time between dinner and bedtime .
Tom
 
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