I understand that an experienced builder could finish the plane quite a bit faster. 2 years)?Īccording to Van's website, the hours are supposed to be the average for the complete aircraft. Are you planning to build the panel yourself?įrankly, I am pretty concerned about whether it is smart to start such a project with a set deadline (replacing the 172 in max. No, I however don't see this as a factor, as I would not have it painted before the first successful flights. Will you paint the aircraft yourself? (Have you painted anything before?) None, I would order as many components prefabricated as possible (qb kit, wiring, avionics packages) How many variations to the plans do you expect to make? How perfect does your airplane need to be? I would think yes, I have dedicated space with the size of about a two car garage available. Do you have a (more than) adequate workshop? I would think pretty handy - I am an electrical engineer, who has also worked on the shop floor for a few years. Medium, my wife will however be of great help in this regards Here are some factors which will impact your build: Would be curious to hear the opinions of others who are already working on the finish kit. So bottom line for me is that I would expect an improvement over building one of the older models but 1,000 hours for a non quick built is unrealistic. I will not have to ponder the electrical system much, figure out the best routing for wires and lines, be able to take advantage of the newer rv-10 style gear, etc. What appealed to me and perhaps is not as appealing for some others is that many of the standard decisions are thought out for you. Not all the parts are drilled to final size, and there are just some processes and systems that are the same as all the other models. I may be slower than most but there are still lots of conventional building practices that need to be done. Others who have built multiple may have a different take on this, however I am at around 400 hours right now and the wings are not yet complete. I will call myself a first time builder even though I had built half an RV-9 tail prior to this, but in my opinion it is not realistic at all. Looking at the projects on, it appears however that nobody (maybe very few, I did not check all) come even close to the published hours and need much longer. Up to around a 1,000 hours, with the quick build option, would be fine with me and I would probably just order new kits. I am therefore wondering, whether you believe that the average build time is indeed only 1,000 - 1,100 hours, as published on Van's website? I also inquired about the quick build option and was told that it would save approximately another 30% or so, what would reduce the build time to about 700 - 800 hours. Well, the 'problem' is, that the RV-14A starts to grow on me. The initial ideas was therefore to buy an almost complete RV-7A project and to finish it within a year or so. The other thing is, that I would really like to replace our O-300 powered Cessna 172 within the next one or two years. I hope my question doesn't sound too silly, but while I want to build, I am afraid that I might not be patient enough to work for many years on a project.
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