cloudy: how log did it take you to just put the parts together ? i'm thinkin what you have showed here would be a great thing for a newbie. not that expensive, and would require one to take the time to learn designing on odd shapes.
The directions say about four or so hours for assembly (including polishing). Fairly close. Used double stick tape for holding it for engraving, the brass was great to cut, too!
The first reel I made seemed to take forever, even though I had a lot more tooling than the basics required. The actual time like Cloudy said about 4 hours, but going back and reading everything a few dozen times that time was over a few days, The second one I started mid morning, finished mid afternoon.