Hopefully others will chime in but in my case, I wasn't prepared for the time it took for the whole system to fill ( once I added brake fluid to the master cyl) I ended up cracking open the bleeders ( be prepared for drips!!) to speed the process along.

 

I've built a number of brand new brake systems, and never had any time or trouble involved in bleeding them. I start by bench bleeding the master before it's installed. But using the bench bleed hose kits you can disconnect the output lines and do the same thing on the car also.
Once the master is bled I go to the furthest wheel from the master, and put my vacuum bleeder on the bleed screw. Suck the line until I get fluid with no bubbles, and then move to the other rear wheel. Then furthest front wheel, and finally closest front wheel.
After that everything is good to drive it. Takes less than an hour and often less than a half hour.

 

Bench bleed master first, will save you a lot of time and aggravation.

 

Last master cylinder I bench bled took maybe ten minutes till no bubbles of any kind. Then another 5 minutes for good luck, and one or two tiny ones came out. I tilt them at an up and down angles to be sure.

 

Bench bleeding the master will save you a lot of hassle. You don't need to do it on a bench though...you can do it in the car just as effectively. I have found that the best way is to actually plug the ports. Once you have all the air out of the master with plugged ports, the pedal won't go down anymore because the fluid won't compress like air does. But using the hoses that come with many new master cylinders works too. From there @1971BB427 hit the nail on the head. It's not complicated, just tedious.

Speed bleeders can be helpful too when you're doing it alone using the old fashioned method (i.e. pump up the pedal, crack the bleeder, let it out, close bleeder, repeat). You don't need the brand name ones...most auto parts stores sell them for popular brake calipers for about $7 or $8/ea.

 

I just replaced the master brake cylinder on my car & made a pressure bleeder set up like the one Pops described in the sticky labeled "DIY pressure bleeder". It works a treat. Use 20 lbs of psi & open the cylinder valves enough to get it flowing good.

 

I'm not a big fan of vacuum bleeders -- there's a fine line between opening the bleeder screw enough to allow fluid out, and opening it too much that air leaks in around the bleeder screw threads.
I prefer using pressure.
This is what I ordered:
0090 NPT TANK - NO Adapters - Motive Products ($37)
0401 - Male QD Fitting - Motive Products ($4)
There will be factory style power brakes on my '57.
Using a spare master cylinder cap, I will plug the vent hole with epoxy, then drill and tap pipe threads in the spare cap and use a standard air fitting to connect the pressure bleeder.
After bench bleeding the master cylinder and connecting up the brakes with new cylinders and brake lines, this should make it easy to get the air out of the system.
This type of unit keeps supplying the master cylinder with fluid, so you don't have to take frequent breaks to check and refill the master, as you would with a vacuum system.

 

I forgot that I ordered the extra $4 male fitting only to make sure I used a matching male NPT fitting in the spare master cylinder cap, so the extra fitting won't actually be used.
(There are two popular air fitting designs.)