After many years of both building and not building (about 50/50) N184GC (One RV-8 for Grandpa Christensen) and I made the maiden flight on April 22, 2015 from Santa Fe Municipal Airport, Santa Fe, NM. That was prior to paint and empty weight was 1,041 lb.
Making the first flight in the airplane I built was probably the most rewarding experience I’ve had in my life. It is the only airplane I have built. I hadn’t even built a RC airplane prior to starting on my RV-8. It has a Lycoming O-360-A1A with dual P-Mags, a Catto 3-blade prop and flies great. Normal cruise is 152 kt true at 6 gph LOP, although it will go much faster with more throttle.
The paint scheme is my own design but I left the paint application to the professionals. My airplane has been awarded Best Homebuilt at the 2016 Land of Enchantment Fly-in, Albuquerque, NM, 1st place Metal and Grand Champion at Copperstate, Mesa, AZ in 2017, 2nd place Custom-Built Metal at the 2016 Copperstate Fly-in, and Kit Built Outstanding Workmanship at the 2017 EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh, WI.
Photo by Joyce Woods. Chase flown by John Nystrom in his RV-7A.
–Robert Anderson
