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PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:57 pm 
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Hello friends! This may be a tricky question to answer, but I'm hoping I can at least get some rough estimates. Basically, I'm doing a "practice" grant proposal for a museum studies course in college. For my particular grant, I am writing it for the P-51 "Lucy Gal" project. I am looking for some ballpark figures on the following list, essentially I just want to see how the $1-2 Million a Mustang costs to build breaks down amongst individual segments. Again, I understand this is somewhat tricky, but even rough estimates will be fine. Thank you all so much for humoring me! haha...

P-51B Mustang Construction/Materials Costs in $
-

Fuselage = ?
Wings = ?
Tail = ?
RR Merlin/Prop = ?
Instruments = ?
Systems/Other Equipment = ?
Finishing/Paint/Detailing/Paperwork = ?

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:23 am 
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Austin: Is this to be a scratch built project or a restoration? Either way, you need to account for some tooling and fixture costs as well as some hard-core machining and fabrication that are going to be on the fringes of capabilities of non-aerospace shops. There are a couple of extrusions in the Mustang that if you need them, you are talking about hundreds of dollars a foot unless someone has them on the shelf, or a group buy is about to go down. There are some fittings that are also going to be pricey unless you already have good ones on hand. For new construction, I would budget about 100K for direct and indirect tooling costs for the project. That includes whatever hard tooling you need for jigs and fixtures, forms, drills, reamers, countersinks and the like. That would also cover a medium sized CNC/Manual veritcal mill and a decent sized manual lathe and associated tooling. With maching shop time for aerospace work approaching 100$ an hour or more, it won't take many small needs to pay for the equipment.

You should also add a contigency allotment, as you will always run into something that is out of the planned project scope, but is required to procede from the point that you find it. Also, don't forget to allow for staff time and costs for documentation reports and project records. If the grant is like most that I've seen, there is are substantial reporting and documentation requirements to maintain the grant as the project progresses.


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:40 am 
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I would study the Flugwerks website as they are now producing mustangs....

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:26 pm 
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Cvairwerks wrote:
Austin: Is this to be a scratch built project or a restoration? Either way, you need to account for some tooling and fixture costs as well as some hard-core machining and fabrication that are going to be on the fringes of capabilities of non-aerospace shops. There are a couple of extrusions in the Mustang that if you need them, you are talking about hundreds of dollars a foot unless someone has them on the shelf, or a group buy is about to go down. There are some fittings that are also going to be pricey unless you already have good ones on hand. For new construction, I would budget about 100K for direct and indirect tooling costs for the project. That includes whatever hard tooling you need for jigs and fixtures, forms, drills, reamers, countersinks and the like. That would also cover a medium sized CNC/Manual veritcal mill and a decent sized manual lathe and associated tooling. With maching shop time for aerospace work approaching 100$ an hour or more, it won't take many small needs to pay for the equipment.

You should also add a contigency allotment, as you will always run into something that is out of the planned project scope, but is required to procede from the point that you find it. Also, don't forget to allow for staff time and costs for documentation reports and project records. If the grant is like most that I've seen, there is are substantial reporting and documentation requirements to maintain the grant as the project progresses.


Hello, thanks for the reply! This is a scratch build, full-scale P-51. I completely forgot about the tooling and specialty parts, that does make up a significant amount. Also it would only make sens that there would be shop time expenses as well! Thanks for the advice on a contingecy allotment too, that makes sense to me...

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:41 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:15 pm
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Location: East Central Alabama / Auburn, AL
hagkid91 wrote:
Cvairwerks wrote:
Austin: Is this to be a scratch built project or a restoration? Either way, you need to account for some tooling and fixture costs as well as some hard-core machining and fabrication that are going to be on the fringes of capabilities of non-aerospace shops. There are a couple of extrusions in the Mustang that if you need them, you are talking about hundreds of dollars a foot unless someone has them on the shelf, or a group buy is about to go down. There are some fittings that are also going to be pricey unless you already have good ones on hand. For new construction, I would budget about 100K for direct and indirect tooling costs for the project. That includes whatever hard tooling you need for jigs and fixtures, forms, drills, reamers, countersinks and the like. That would also cover a medium sized CNC/Manual veritcal mill and a decent sized manual lathe and associated tooling. With maching shop time for aerospace work approaching 100$ an hour or more, it won't take many small needs to pay for the equipment.

You should also add a contigency allotment, as you will always run into something that is out of the planned project scope, but is required to procede from the point that you find it. Also, don't forget to allow for staff time and costs for documentation reports and project records. If the grant is like most that I've seen, there is are substantial reporting and documentation requirements to maintain the grant as the project progresses.


Hello, thanks for the reply! This is a scratch build, full-scale P-51. I completely forgot about the tooling and specialty parts, that does make up a significant amount. Also it would only make sens that there would be shop time expenses as well! Thanks for the advice on a contingecy allotment too, that makes sense to me...


One issue about the tooling is that it may have considerable cost up front, you may be able to recoup it later when the project is finished through the sale of the tooling or renting/leasing it for others to build parts. With the need/desire for WW2 aircraft planes and parts these days, it would be wise to keep any tooling made as there will be a demand for the parts that come from it.


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