Sling Tsi Quick Build vs Complete Kit?
Sling Tsi Quick Build vs Complete Kit?
I’m contemplating building a Sling Tsi and would like to hear the opinion of someone that has built or is building a Tsi if you had to do it again if you would recommend the Quick Build?
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Cluemeister
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Re: Sling Tsi Quick Build vs Complete Kit?
There's also a third option. Order a complete kit, and have a build assist center convert it into a quick build. With TAF shipping complete kits quicker than QB kits, some builders are going this route.
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PhilipRueker
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Re: Sling Tsi Quick Build vs Complete Kit?
It very much depends on your time horizon and time commitment.
The Quickbuild will save you a lot of time on the repetitive work on the Wings and Fuselage, but will cost more to build out of course.
I've done the quick build from the Factory for the aforementioned reason since I mostly build after work or weekends, but still hope to be done in reasonable time and not over a 5-10 year timeframe.
But there's also some people like Evan (ebrunye) who went with the base kit and is building very quickly where he's already farther man me now, but he's spending a lot more time on the build every week.
The Quickbuild will save you a lot of time on the repetitive work on the Wings and Fuselage, but will cost more to build out of course.
I've done the quick build from the Factory for the aforementioned reason since I mostly build after work or weekends, but still hope to be done in reasonable time and not over a 5-10 year timeframe.
But there's also some people like Evan (ebrunye) who went with the base kit and is building very quickly where he's already farther man me now, but he's spending a lot more time on the build every week.
Re: Sling Tsi Quick Build vs Complete Kit?
I'd recommend going for the full kit not quickbuild 
I'm building full time, and it took about 2-2.5 months to get the kit to the status of how a quickbuild ships. I'm now about 3.5 months into the build, and I'll say one thing for sure- the quickbuild kits ONLY get the easy stuff out of the way! The hard parts are fine tuning all the control rods, fitting the composite parts perfectly (although depending which quickbuild company you go with, I've seen them do it different ways. Some ship with wingtips on, but no canopy. Some ship with wingtips off, but canopy on. Some with inside skins on, some without... etc). The wings are especially easy to do yourself if you have the space. Each wing, including fuel tank, only takes about 50-60 hours, as the instructions for them are great. The fuselage took about a month, but only due to poor instruction manuals. The actual work done should probably take around 100-120 hours if you ignore the extra 80 spent solving puzzles. I don't think the empennage is ever really done in a quickbuild kit, because it's incredibly easy to build, it took me about 50 hours for the whole thing.
So when you do the math, you save about 200-250 hours of real build time by getting a quickbuild kit. They claim it's much more but these are my real world numbers as a first time builder. Then you just have to decide what you value your time at!
I'm building full time, and it took about 2-2.5 months to get the kit to the status of how a quickbuild ships. I'm now about 3.5 months into the build, and I'll say one thing for sure- the quickbuild kits ONLY get the easy stuff out of the way! The hard parts are fine tuning all the control rods, fitting the composite parts perfectly (although depending which quickbuild company you go with, I've seen them do it different ways. Some ship with wingtips on, but no canopy. Some ship with wingtips off, but canopy on. Some with inside skins on, some without... etc). The wings are especially easy to do yourself if you have the space. Each wing, including fuel tank, only takes about 50-60 hours, as the instructions for them are great. The fuselage took about a month, but only due to poor instruction manuals. The actual work done should probably take around 100-120 hours if you ignore the extra 80 spent solving puzzles. I don't think the empennage is ever really done in a quickbuild kit, because it's incredibly easy to build, it took me about 50 hours for the whole thing.
So when you do the math, you save about 200-250 hours of real build time by getting a quickbuild kit. They claim it's much more but these are my real world numbers as a first time builder. Then you just have to decide what you value your time at!