I took a crack at hand soldering those 0805s, 0603s, SOICs, and QFPs. It took me three tries on the second QFP to get it right. Fortunately the hot air rework tool makes removing them easy. In the end I got both QFPs down and tested every pin. The 0805s and 0603s were indeed pretty easy.. easier than I thought they would be.

Next up I’ll do another of the same board with solder paste and the air station, then another with a skillet, then repeat all three again. The mantis makes it really easy to see your screwups! (Also Matthew R. Wilson pointed out this practice board doesn’t have solder mask between the pins on the QFP, which makes it a tad harder)