Excellent article, thanks. At the risk of missing the forest for the trees, I wonder how much simpler things would have been if you had been slightly flexible on the 8-pin requirement. It seems as though having just a few more pins would have reduced the complexity of the project significantly while only marginally increasing the time it takes to solder.
Hand-solderable might be relative. Certainly, QFNs and BGAs are more difficult. But I don't think the average hobbyist can solder QFPs, especially with an exposed underside pad. Heck, as a hobbyist, I don't think I'd trust myself to solder SOICs.
