Mark 1 - The RV-8 certainly looks like a realistic alternative to the Chippie, one question though, and that is around the undercarriage. It does appear to have a wide track but with those long legs coming out at an angle from the centre of the fuselage, do you find that it rocks from side to side whilst taxiing? The Chippie feels planted when manouvreing around farm strips where the surface is uneven, how does the RV-8 compare?
It doesn't rock, but it feels stiffer and less damped than the Chippy. The RV-4 could get into a resonance over bumpy ground. Not noticed that in the -8, but we don't have much unpaved surface in California. I've taken it into some of the better back country strips in Idaho with no issues, but have picked up several scratches on the bottom of the spats.
Maybe not Spitfire, but the RV-8 does make a reasonable low budget P51 (I have the obligatory invasion stripes, chequer-board nosebowl etc).
And Shaggy, I did have a couple of retired airline pilots recognize the aircraft they did their CoAT evaluation in at Hamble many years earlier. One put his head in the cockpit, drew in a deep breath and said "Ah, just like I remember it, the unforgettable smell of leather and vomit".
I do miss it, but not enough to want another one.