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maq
12-15-2008, 10:29 PM
Hello Everyone,

Have a chance to make trade for Kitfox 1.5 it says with registration #1-255. I believe this is the third to last Kitfox 1 built. It has a KFM 112 / 62 Horsepower Engine with a 3 blade prop. It is not flying now. Though it did until 2004 and had 280 hours logged on the powerplant. It needs a few things. New Plexiglass in front. One new tire, Fuel lines, and I believe some sort of Carburator Heat Modification. Apparently it had a tendency to shut down if you pulled the power all the way off when coming in to land.

I don't know much about Kitfox Models, but when reading through was wishing it was the Kitfox 2,3,or 4 with the wider cabin. It seems to be in very good shape other than for a few small things and comes with a spare engine of the same model Kfm 112, with about the same hrs.

Can anyone give me a recomendation on this model over the other models that have evolved. Is this model totally underpowered for example or in anyother way not reliable or recomended. Does anyone know why it is called a 1.5. What modification might be included in the 3rd from the last Model 1 before the Model 2. I know it has two wing tanks. I don't know what size and another tank behind the seat.

Any information is appreciated. Is there a club in Albuquerque. Kitfox or other experimental. I would appreciate someone looking it over before the eventual maiden. Would like someone who knows about this particular model to check it out.

I've flown taildraggers since I was 7 years old and owned my frist J3 when I was 15. It had a lot of duct tape on it for a while till I could afford to recover it. I'm 58 and haven't flown for past 10 years. Should have never sold my cub. How many times have you heard that.

Robin G
12-18-2008, 11:07 AM
Maq

I see that a lot of us have viewed your post but as yet, nobody's chimed in. I am not an expert by any means, (mine is a run of the mill ROTAX powered 3) but it seems to me you have come across a rather unique machine. Usually, a call to the facotry is a good place to start, as John and the crew are most helpful. But your machine predates their involvement and I don't know to what degree they are able to comment. I'd still start there. I know there are a few early model owners on this site though and if you check out profiles you can probably run one down, figuratively speaking. Best of luck. They are fun little machines.

robin g

Robin G
12-18-2008, 11:14 AM
Oh, one other thing. I doubt if you will find the machine underpowered with 62 hp. Pretty much each successive model gained weight and I'd guess that 62 hp on a mod 1 will work fine as that machine is probably under 500 lbs empty and less than a thousand gross.

robin g

maq
12-18-2008, 02:16 PM
Robin, yes this plane is 426 empty and 850 gross. Glad to hear that the 62 horse kfm112 will do the job as it comes with two of them! Tnx again Jim.

SkySteve
12-18-2008, 03:24 PM
Mag,
I'm no expert at all. However, I do have a model I. At one point in it's history it was powered by a Rotax 532 (64hp) engine. Mine is serial #42.

Mine has many mods. I do love it, and it flys great. The ground elevation where my plane is located in Utah is approx 4,200'. Due to the mountains in our area, it is not uncommon for us to fly at 8,000, 9,000 and even 10,000' here. The fox does fine. I have corrected the adverse yaw by raising the vertical stabilizer approx 10" and replacing my rudder with a model IV rudder. I have also made mine a convertible tri gear / tailwheel (following a ground loop). My plane has one 6 gal gas tank in each wing plus a 1 gal header tank behind the seat. Climb out is 1,000 to 1,200 fpm single and a good solid 800 fpm dual, but I also have a 912A (80hp) Rotax.

Mnflyer
12-18-2008, 07:39 PM
Hi Maq, I have a Model III so can not tell you about a Model I, but was thinking maybe it was called a 1.5 because of the KFM engine install or the installation of the 2 wing tanks. The Model's I / II / III all can with a 9 gal nose / fuselage tank standard a 6 gal wing tank was optional, the tank you refer to behind the seat maybe a header tank (required to get good fuel flow). In researching the KFM 112 engine I come up with it being a 52 hp engine, a light Model will fly on 52 hp not not be a great climber a few Rotax 503 powered Kitfox's have been built and are being flown (the Rotax 503 is 52 hp). As far as a Kitfox flying with 62 hp not a problem many many Kitfox's were built with the Rotax 532 and later on the 582 both have a 64 hp rating but the exhaust was modified to get it to fit under the Kitfox cowl and that mod lowered the hp to between 60 / 62 hp. performance is good to great cruise a bit slow, after 300 hrs on my 582 I converted to the HKS engine it has 60 hp and the performance as good as the 582 but with a nice increase in cruise, and much better fuel consumption approx 3 GPH for the HKS VS 4.5 GPH for the 582. If the plane looks good it should be a good flying plane IMHO.