Can you really build a RV-8 Quickbuild in 9 months while still holding a
full time job?  When do you sleep!!!!  How? (serious question)  How many
hours do you think it will take?  Hi Ken,
 
At first, this sounds impossible, but on paper, it's quite reasonable.  I've
built about 2.5 RV's so far, including a standard kit RV-8.  I spent 1602
hours over 2.5 years building the earlier -8, but again, that was a standard
kit.   The new kit is a QB, which is supposed to save 800-1000 hours.  If it saves
800 hours, then I will only need 800 to get the plane flying (not painted,
or with fairings, etc).  You can probably knock off another 100 hours due to
the fact that the new kits are so much better than the older ones.  For
example, the empennage is all "match hole" construction now, which means you
just cleco it together on the workbench.  All the steel parts are powder
coated, which saves me the time of painting all that stuff.  I'll also save
considerable time staring at the plans, and debating options such as where
to put the antenna, ELT, headset jacks, etc.  Having "been there, done that"
before, is a huge advantage.  Van's also sells a FWF package now, that has
everything you need, including all the pre-made hoses.  Not only will this
save the time of making the hoses, but it will save the time spent shopping
for these items, forgetting something, ordering the wrong part, etc.  That
shopping time wasn't included in the earlier total, but the time saved will
now be available for actual building.   The other advantage(?) is a change in vacation policy with Philips this
year.  They now only allow you to carry over a small amount of saved
vacation from one year to the next, rather than the 6 weeks we used to be
able to carry.  Since I'm maxed on vacation time, and accumulate it rapidly,
I will need to take 8 weeks of vacation this year to keep from losing any
time.  I can easily work on the plane 70 hours in a vacation week, so that's
560 hours right there.   The real time savings is the fact that I have no kids, or social life, and a
wife who doesn't pile up too many honey-do's.   As you see, it's possible, but still optimistic.   Cheers,
Rusty (when will this message arrive, instantly, or 2.5 days later)