Oh, and a Kiev Prop, or better yet an Airmaster CS if you can afford it (cost and weight)

For me...mostly what skystrider, dirtstrip and emflys said.

The tail pull handle that dirtsrip refers to can be bought here:http://www.basinc-aeromod.com/
I installed one on my plane and its invaluable for moving it around, also relatively easy to install, mine was actually made for an RV-8 and the builder never closed the deal for it.

Can't say enough about paying someone else to build parts for you not doing it all yourself, farm everything out that is possible, it will shorten the build time and keep you interested in the project. When you buy the kit, get it to the furthest completion level you can afford while still keeping you honest with the 51% rule. Tech advancements have helped a lot over the last few years, aluminum kits can be purchased with pre-punched holes, this saves an enormous amount of time, it's not just the drilling its the layout that takes forever, I have over 9000 drill holes in my plane...I know.

Get eevry specialty tool you can afford, they are great time savers, things like pneumatic rivet squeezers are not a luxury item in my opinion if you're building a metal plane, they save great quantities of time and pay for themselves. Avery tool and actually just about every other aviation tool company have one-off specialty tools, things like special tools that allow you to slide a washer in between surfaces where you can't fit fingers, anything that saves time is invaluable, it will help you finish sooner.

Hardware: invest early on and get plenty of extra, nothing sucks worse than being in the middle of something sataurday night and you don't have the right hardware and need to order something...it just slows you down, keep an eye on what you use most and always order many, many extras.

Don't underestimate the time commitment. Everything will take 2 to 3 times longer than you think. Try to do something every day if possible, even if its only to clean up. This will kep you energized...layoffs will kill the effort and the project.

I have a glass panel but did get a separte air speed indicator that starts at 20 mph, many of the glass panels don't kick in until you reach 40 and that's too high. I also added a separate RPM gauge that also doubles as a hobbs meter, if everything goes TU I should still be able to fly the plane with those two gauges, I kept them both to 2 1/4"..

I am getting to the final stages of building a Kitfox 7 and have learned a few things:

- Drilling perfectly placed holes is not easy, and in most kits you dill multi-hundreds of holes. I thought I could drill holes as good as anyone, but found most of the time they would drift off-center a little bit; not enough to be a problem but just enough to make wish I had done a more accurate job. Finally learned to use a drill press whenever possible, very carefully center punch the location, or better yet use a small center drill to start the hole and act like a pilot drill. Takes more time but much better results.

- Almost always use a syringe to place the epoxy adhesive-much more consistent and much less messy.

- A dremel tool with various attachments is absolutely invaluable.

- 15 0r 20 spring clamps and at least a dozen soft grip bar clamps. Hardly ever use any C-clamps except to press bearings.

- Get a good repirator for applying epoxy primer and varnish and covering fluids. I think I really got my lungs raw before I realized this.

- Get a digital level that reads out angles; much better than the old bubble style for rigging wings and control surfaces.

- Build yourself some kind of simple rotisserie for the wings; so much easier to be able to rotate the wing while building, varnishing wood ribs, gluing, covering and painting.

Regarding options:

- You will probable want to get nearly all the options the factory offers, plus some of your own. I got them all for my Kitfox except the quick-build options to save money and I enjoy the building.

Hope this helps,
Jim