i believe a misunderstanding here. You say 80 k is a joke. Yes if that is the price of an ltr. But it is the passive income that you need to show. The 80.000 stays in your pocket.
at the airport you do not need to have " forms, copies and pictures". You pay a standard fee and if you not have a photo they do it the the spot for a small fee. I believe 100 or 200 bht. no forms ot copies needed!!
I applied when ltr was brandnew so maybe they were not very busy. Took about 2 or 3 months but i had to get a health insurance . That took some times so maybe if i had submitted my health insurance earlier i would have taken shorter. Be aware that the health insurance has to have at least seven months or so validity. ! It took quite some time at the the insurer before he was prepared to change the time schedule of the policy!