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Hello all, I am new to the experimental world. I recently stumbled upon a kitfox model one. It’s been sitting for at least 10-15 years. He told me it’s a zero time motor. The Hobbs meter has 93 hours on the airframe. He has no log books for the prop/airframe/engine. Really clean plane looks like it got its airworthiness back in 1995. Probably original fabric. What price range do you all think it would be in? Thank you! Sorry no pics
The HKS engine is an unknown to me so you'll want to find someone who knows about those.
I got caught in the Trent Palmer craze a few years ago and jumped on a model 1. Overall it wasn't too bad a deal but my eagerness and lack of knowledge let the seller screw me a little.
The original aluminum wing tanks were prone to cracking welds and leaking and the original fix was to slosh the tank. I forget the name of the product but it tended to start flaking off largely because the inside of the tank wasn't scuffed up which then clogged fuel filters. The guy who sold me my airplane told me all I had to do is plumb the tank back in and I'd be good to go. One look in the tank with a flashlight would have proved otherwise.
I can't tell if you have the header tank in there or not but if you only have aluminum wing tanks that could be a problem.
The early model 1s were 850 lb gross weight. The last few they made that had a vertical web in the tube spars were 950 lb gross weight. That's the difference between it being a solo aircraft or not depending on how big you are but it's size limited anyway.
There's a number of service bulletins to check on kitfoxes website.
It would be a good idea to look at the seat truss where the bungees wrap around. If the aircraft suffered a hard landing the seat truss and Longerons were the gear mount might be bent. These aircraft are very lightly built and it doesn't take a very hard landing to bend them.
One of the other big things to look at is the flaperon hangars or rib tails as they're also called. Make sure they're not rotted or otherwise snapped off/ broken.
I had a Kitfox 1 that I sold several years ago. Performed great with a 582. A buddy of mine is flying a Sky Raider 2 with the HKS in it, and it's doing very good for him. I've always thought that if the plane is light, the HKS would be fine. Very early HKS engine had a factory recall, not all of them got sent back. If you google it, you will see what serial # applies to that recall. More like a 503 than a 582 for power from what I've heard though. JImChuk
Thanks guys for the reply! I looked at it for about 30 mins and noticed that it has the fiber glass style wing tanks. I’ll have to look up the sn of the engine and see if it has the recall. He is wanting 12000 for the pair. He has another airframe that has been covered with the landing gear attached, no wings or engine. He has zero log books for it. Is that a big deal in the experimental aircraft. I am an a&p but have been out of the ga game for 20 years now.
What model is the other plane that goes with the Kitfox 1? If someone who knows these earlier Kitfoxes could really go over the plane real well, and if you could figure out for sure that it's zero time on the engine, I wouldn't be real concerned with the logs being gone. Lots of stuff never gets into the logs on these planes, and if there are repairs that weren't done well, they should be evident to some one who knows what to look for. Make sure the registration is in order though. JImChuk
I looked up the registration on faa.gov and it was deregistered back in 2007. It is also a model 1.
If the expired registration of the fuselage is in the current owner's name, he could probably get the registration reestablished. Having proper paperwork on it would make it more valuable. JImChuk
The current owner never registered it. Never switched anything over, it’s still in the builders name. Who I have tried to reach out too but crickets.All he has is the bill of sale from the 1st owner that’s it!
Any of you guys know Larry Schwepker? His name is on the plane and is the builder. He is out of Missouri.
I have no affiliation with seller but there is a Model I for sale in Vermont. https://vermont.craigslist.org/avo/d...585614038.html