Dear EQ:
I don't really see a question there, but I will try to address what I think you're asking.
From your description, it appears as though processing (which uses resources) always takes 8 hours per test and programming is the scalable aspect of the project. For example, if Project A takes 2 hours of coding and 8 hours of processing, then the estimation would be 10 hours. If Project B is twice as big, it would be 4 hours of coding and 8 hours of processing, for 12 hours. The equation would be Estimation = Hc+8 hrs, where Hc is the hours spent coding.
Harry