rustyrivet

My Feedback: (6)

I'm trying to decide between building a 63" TopFlite P-47, or the 85" Giant kit. I'm now kind of leaning toward the 63".

I don't intend to spend time doing panel lines, rivets, or cockpit &dummy radial detail. I'm also considering doing MonoKote. How many months might the 63" model take? Because I haven't ruled out painting it, perhaps you guys that have built this kit with paint or with MonoKote can provide a hint of how much time as a minimum I can expect to complete the project.

jeffo

My Feedback: (68)

That's kind of a loaded question.For me,half the time is the build,and the other half is the finishing and ass'y.It takes me 6 to 8 months,depending on what I am building.jeffo

TomCrump

You could easily slap either size together in a few weeks. It all depends on how much time, each day, you spend in the shop.

I do not think that the giant scale version would take longer than the smaller one, assuming that they are similarly equipped.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

basic frame up and finishing any where from 1-3 months depending on what options you go with,flaps ,retracts etc the 60 size P-47 isn't that tough of a build, really all the Top Flite models are fairly strait forward there's just allot of parts to them.

like jeffo pointed out its the set up and finishing that can really slow a project down,I am currently converting my century jet retracts to electric for my 60 size P-47 all up and painted it took a year at my slow pace including other projects along the way.

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

You really ought to ask the question in terms of how many hours it takes. I have kept track of time on four builds. One was a Great Planes Ultra Sport. That took about 65 hours, half to build, half to cover with Ultra Coat. BUSA Nieuport 17=100 hours, BUSA Morane A-1= 150 hours, and BUSA dh4 230 hours. I'm an experienced builder and don't mess around too much.
The WWI kits had some scale modifications and were painted over Solartex. I would guess I could do the 63" P-47 in less than 125 hours to the level you mentioned.
Chuck

rustyrivet

My Feedback: (6)

It looks like if I put in about 10 hours a week on an average, then over 3 or 4 months I should be able to complete it with about 125 to 160 hours put into it. I'm allowing that I might have hangups along the way trying to figure how to use my first retracts and my first gasser engine, but I'll be saving a lot of time by NOT doing panel lines, rivets, and a cockpit. So then, probably 4 months minimum, to 6 months max. I'm no stranger to long projects taking hundreds of hours, and DON'T want anything much longer then what we are talking about here in the 4 to 6 month range.....which sounds fine.

Thanks for the input gents

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

I built a GS P-47 kit this winter. It took five weeks from first glue joint to first flight.