ORIGINAL: cutaway
ORIGINAL: FILE IFR
... I'm with you on this , 20 to 30 hours for a .40/60. sized ARF is the norm.
Maybe if you recover with some iron on covering and don't have any elaborate trim detail.
I just started rebuilding a .60 Revolver, and I know there's going to be a couple of hundred hours in doing a silk and dope finish. Many man days will be spent on just surface prep/sanding. Another 8 hours or so cutting out all the cloth hinges needed and doping them down, another few filling and feathering the cloth hinge edges, etc, etc....and it won't even have any actual covering on it yet.
I did not say a thing, but I am still waiting my prop-tree to grow. Needs one more year, and I can carve my prop...
A couple of HUNDRED hours for a covering? Let's see, IF we work 3 days per week on this, let's say 3 hours. 3x3=9 hours per week. 300 divided by 9 is 33 weeks... No, I pass... I would have that toy in the air in 2 weeks tops...
But, some are into this to fly, some are not. What ever makes you happy... some of us work, some not, and they have to do something with their time... That's the nice thing of this hobby. there is something for everybody.
Gerry