WurlyBird
Well-Known Member
I have been talking to a guy who has a Kitfox V, Vixen kit for sale. The Vixen was Kitfox's tricycle version plane, before they were designed convertible. I am considering buying it because it is a good price but I want a tail dragger. So the question is;
How do you figure out how much additional support is needed and exactly where to move the main gear to? It uses Grove type landing gear that is simply held on with four bolts and a new mounting bracket could easily be produced. The kit is designed with float attach points and the forward points are just behind where I am eyeballing the main gear as needing to go, so there is already some support considerations built into the frame. Enough? I don't know but I doubt it. A little more support wont hurt.
The kit has the optional tail skid, or auto-leveling-device, as I call it. Again, would additional support be needed to add a tail wheel to this area? I was told that there would be issues hooking up the steering because the hinge line for the rudder is swept back, is this true? I have since seen tail dragger models with swept tails.
Any info will be a huge help since this kit is for a good price and at the stage I want. Just the gear issue stopping me.
How do you figure out how much additional support is needed and exactly where to move the main gear to? It uses Grove type landing gear that is simply held on with four bolts and a new mounting bracket could easily be produced. The kit is designed with float attach points and the forward points are just behind where I am eyeballing the main gear as needing to go, so there is already some support considerations built into the frame. Enough? I don't know but I doubt it. A little more support wont hurt.
The kit has the optional tail skid, or auto-leveling-device, as I call it. Again, would additional support be needed to add a tail wheel to this area? I was told that there would be issues hooking up the steering because the hinge line for the rudder is swept back, is this true? I have since seen tail dragger models with swept tails.
Any info will be a huge help since this kit is for a good price and at the stage I want. Just the gear issue stopping me.