Kitfox V history ?

[jdmcbean]

Look at the spars. If they are .062" walls they are the 1550 GW.

The spar wall thickness was NOT the only change.. there were other structural changes from the Series 5 -1400 to the 1550. Wall thickness of some of the tubing structure and some was actually the structural design..

There are Vixen aircraft that were actually 1200..

[jmodguy]

The spar wall thickness was NOT the only change.. there were other structural changes from the Series 5 -1400 to the 1550. Wall thickness of some of the tubing structure and some was actually the structural design..

There are Vixen aircraft that were actually 1200..

Fair enough. How does one tell by looking at the airframe what they have?

[bumsteer]

Jeff

Not sure if this will help, but a FYI letter that came with my build manual for my Series 5 (1998) says that Series 5 aircraft with a S or V prefix and serial number 95070000 or greater have been increased from a 1400lb to a 1550lb gross weight.

Rick

[jdmcbean]

Serial number is the easiest way... the caveat to the letter was the spar wall thickness.. The very early sequence of those serial numbers had .058 wall spars.. The fuselage had been changed so they needed to upgrade the spars to the .065 wall.

[HighWing]

I spent some time yesterday going over some of the "Kitfox Times" magazines of this era. My first Model IV kit was delivered in March of 1993 - Ordered November 1992 - and was devouring anything Kitfox I could find. The first issue was the " '93 Summer Special Double Issue 1993" In this issue is an article describing the development of the Skystar Vixen. Then I found a brochure introducing the Vixen in "Volume 10 Issue1 1994". I have attached a PDF of the introductory article to this post and will attach a PDF of the brochure in a subsequent post to accommodate the size of the files.

Pay particular attention to the specifications as they relate to gross weight.

[HighWing]

This will provide PDFs of the 8 page brochure introducing the Vixon to the general public. There are some interesting options announced since the original introduction in "Kitfox Times" Sorry for the multiple PDFs the site file size limits were exceeded with an attempt to do a single PDF.

[jmodguy]

Bum, John,
Thanks for the needed info! My spars are .065. Will check serial number this afternoon.

[DesertFox4]

The very first Vixen came out as a model 4 with 80hp.


IMG_5919.JPG

[Maverick]

I built a KF5 from a kit serial number S94120069, which I believe means that the kit was created in December, 1994 and was the 69th kit built that year. The kit was originally sold to a guy in Tucson, AZ. I am now building a KF5 from a kit serial number S94120078. This kit was sold to a guy in Mesa, AZ. I bought the second kit from Mission Aviation Fellowship after the original purchaser donated it. The kit was not totally complete and I have purchased several of the missing parts from John & Debra. They have been more than helpful even though I did not buy the kit from them. John helped me understand how to approach the FAA since the original buyer did not have his purchase agreement from Skystar. I did get much documentation from the original owner (inventory sheet) and I was able to, through MAF, get a letter to the guy and an affidavit from him stating that he did purchase the kit from Skystar. So, if you are considering an old kit, be sure you can address any registration issues with the FAA.

As far as the missing parts, part labels falling off the baggies, etc., you do want to take into consideration the time it takes to find the right part. Usually, this is the right size bolts for the right location that you need it for. Of course, you want to make sure all the essential parts are there. You would not want to spend so much for new parts that you put yourself in a condition where you would be spending more between the used kit and the missing parts you would have buy and just buying a new kit. My air-frame is a tail-dragger but, the mods to make it into a nose-dragger could be made before you get started, assuming too much work is not already done that would prevent it from being done without a lot of rework.

I have been tracking my spending. With a Rotax ULS purchased from AZ Aircraft salvage with 700 hrs on it, all new Garmin avionics, a Great Lakes EIS and, minimal used steam gauges, it looks like I should be flying for less than $40K. Of course it is not going to be a show plane. I'm building it to fly as a LSA.