Message text written by "Chris Cameron"
>As a newly hatched builder (I bought kit #386 a couple of weeks ago), I'm
curious about which serial number the XS started (or which serial number
the
classic ended) and how US serial numbers relate to UK serial numbers (e.g.
as owner of a UK kit, could I buy stage 2 from the US (not planning to, but
freight to NZ may be cheaper!) or would I have to buy stage 2 (and 3) from
the UK?). Is there a hole in the UK serial numbers for each US serial
number, otherwise how do the kits differ?<
Purely by observation (no access to "official" data!), I believe that the
system is as follows:
UK and US numbering sequences are totally separate. UK numbers started at
001around February 1993, and now stand at beyond 500.
US kits started at A001 around April 1995 and now stand at "at least 228" I
have also seen a statement that over 800 kits have now been sold (not sure
if that means shipped or just ordered - perhasp assuming the latter ties in
better with data gathered from posting to this list, etc.)
A small number of kits seem to have gone to South America and have a third
number series, and on top of that the UK prototypes have a separate number
series 0001-0005. I believe one of these aircraft was subsequently sold off
and given a US kit number from the main US sequence.
I believe the first "wholly XS" kits were from somewhere around (UK)350
(Jan 1998 ?), but of course many kits older than this have been upgraded to
partial or full XS standard during building; conversely, I believe it may
be still possible to order a classic-style nose if you want one! Jan 1998
would correspond to around US kit A100, but I am aware of at least one US
Classic with a higher number - Troy Manor has described his kit (A120) as
"one of the last Classics shipped", and I estimate his shipping date might
be around September 1998. I guess that when the XS became available there
were still some Classics unsold; perhaps they had not had numbers allocated
to them at that stage, so were eventually shipped with higher numbers ?? On
the other hand, I have also gained an impression that kits may not
necessarily be sold in exact numerical sequence.
---From my notes, kit 386 might have been sold (or shipped ?) around Summer
1998, so I infer you have recently taken it over "pre-used"?
As regards buying different stages from UK and US suppliers, I think you'll
have to contact the firm about that! (But I am aware of one builder who
moved from Australia to the US between taking delivery and starting to
assemble!)
Stewart Buckingham (still wavering between building, "taking over" or
buying completed!)
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