Headed to Washington tomorrow to test fly a PA-12. After searching and thinking for a lot of years I’m finally in a place to buy, and have found the Super Cruiser to fit my mission, wants, needs, and financial ability the best.
If she gives me the warm fuzzies I’ll be making an offer and have secured a member here to perform a pre-buy.

I’ve been digging, and I know there’s a lot of posts with some gotchas on the -12. But if anybody has any big ticket stuff to look for, I’d love to hear them.

The logs/Major alteration FaA history are the best and cleanest that I’ve seen in my search.

The description appears very accurate, and goes as follows:

“ beautiful, fully restored and correctly modded in '12(650hr ago) 150hp Cub. Factory to current books, all STCs and 337s. PA-18 flaps, nose,and tail,new Sky-Tech starter and light weight battery, Garmin ADS-B, VGs top and bottom, Saundia x-pndr, SL-40, Garmin GPS, 850s, Clevelands, 36gal fuel ,Dakota gauges and fuel selector, ext baggage, harnesses, skylight, cathedral bracing. Major annual last year, new carb mags mixture and exhaust etc. 1060 SMOH Comps 78-79/80 Dry climate hangared never on floats Times will change flys often.”

Wish me luck, and I’ll keep y’all posted.

If you're okay with spending that much, I'd say it's a nice bird. Flaps mod is clutch.

Was the upgross mod done? That’s one of the big gotchas on the stock 12: Not much useful load.

MTV

As for price, I agree it’s at the high end, but I am willing to pay on the don’t end for something that’s been gone through recently and will be trouble free.

Up gross kit is a no, so book gross is 1750#.

Anybody know any piper rag and tube gurus in the Moses lake areA?

Rainbow Flying Service is at Moses Lake Muni. They make parts and do restoration work on Aeronca/Bellanca/American Champion airplanes. I have never used their services and don't know them personally, but they exist and surely know generic info about rag and tube airplanes.

As for price, I agree it’s at the high end, but I am willing to pay on the don’t end for something that’s been gone through recently and will be trouble free.

Up gross kit is a no, so book gross is 1750#.

Anybody know any piper rag and tube gurus in the Moses lake Washington area? I have a guy that will do a pre-buy , but I don’t get the warm fuzzies that he is an expert on this type.

I actually went over and spoke to the gentleman at rainbow. He had done a pre-buy on this airplane for another guy recently and feels that the price is too much, and seemed set on that idea and proceeded to try and sell me some projects he’s working on lol. I think I’ll keep looking

Met the owner of the cruiser yesterday. We did several touch and goes on some sod farms (with permission), and on some beaches. The airplane flies great and runs smooth.

He was nice enough to then leave me with the airplane and the logs for several hours so I could scan the logs and pour over them and the airplane.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone with the previous owner of 25 years and also the man responsible for the rebuild in 2012. He sent me to a link on supercub org that documents his rebuild of another 12 and shows his handy work. He gave me a much better idea of the airplane and the current owner.

All in all I think that I’d really like this airplane and that were a good match. There are some things that are less than perfect, and it’s not a showroom piece, but I think it should be fairly hassle free for some time. The price is going to need to come down a bit, but I’m hoping to strike a deal.

Perfection is the enemy of profitability....so is trying to find the perfect airplane at the perfect price....get close and fill the gaps as you enjoy your investment....smiles are priceless

Well, we are moving ahead with the deal. We came to an agreement on price contingent on a pre-buy that I'm scheduling through Mike Butterfield at Yakima Aero. This is happening! I'll have no fingernails until she's in the hangar!

Pics and details after you close! Exciting! Hope you sleep tonight.

Kurt

Make sure the landing gear cluster has been beefed up on the left side. It's a weak point on 12's. Right side is ok b/c of door post. If you're going to fly skis or do off airport work you'll need it.

Does this 12 have a flat floor? Did they turn the bell crank during the rebuild? These are things you probably want.

Arctic Flyer,

I'll look into the gear, but it had a LH door post put in at rebuild even though it doesn't have the LH door. I don't intend to do ski/float work, but will be working it at some of the Idaho backcountry strips. Mike knows this and is going to have an eye for those needs during his inspection. As for the flat floor, no. The only baggage extension it has is the fishing tube and the -14 cathedral brace. This is a concession on my part. I would rather have a recently refurbed bird that I have many known variables on than something far away with more baggage but more question marks about history etc.

Well friends,
Everything has clicked into place. N3969B got a stellar bill of health on the pre-buy and were set to close as soon as Monday.

I’ll post pics when I take delivery and bring her home!

Fantastic!

Kurt

Finally I have some time to make a quick post-purchase report

Financing came through with Red River State Bank in Minnesota. Big shout out to Larry at that bank. He bent over backwards and worked really hard to make everything happen really fast. There was a snag before closing as there was an old lien on the airplane from the 90's. The seller ended up having to pay a title company to square it away, but it got sorted. The lien had been released, but the bank either never filed the paperwork with the FAA, or the FAA lost it.

My dad and I flew his Lake LA-4 from Ogden UT up to Moses Lake with a fuel stop at La Grande Oregon. After picking up the bird, I enjoyed one of the highlights of my flying career, flying in formation with my Dad back to McCall, over Hells Canyon. Other than pretty heavy smoke, it was a beautiful flight, and an amazing bonding experience. The next morning Dad and I did about 12 landings in the LA-4 on Payette Lake to seal the deal on a grand couple of days.

So here she sits, cozily hangared in McCall while I finish up fire season before flying her home to Ogden. My Dad and I are working on making a comprehensive spreadsheet to organize the history of the bird and make a maintenance plan and keep things in order.

There's not much I NEED to do to the airplane, but there are a few items that I'll be trying to tick off as money allows (the purchase and everything involved in getting it home have me pretty cash poor). First on the list is going to be a 4 cylinder engine monitoring system. I'd really like to go STC and replace all of the engine cluster, but may end up going non-STC'd to save $. The prop on the plane is old and undocumented, and is a cruise prop at 74/56. I'd love to find a decent used borer, but haven't seen much, so may have to go new. Other than those things and a few little things, I think I'll be set to fly her through the winter and into next fire season when the overtime hose will turn back on, and I'll be able to afford some more upgrades.

Thanks to everyone for all their help here getting me here. I'm looking forward to sharing the joy of this airplane with many!

Noce plane! Rather then buying a borer you could just get the prop twisted down to 54 or 53. Save you some $$ to put towards the engine monitor.

That picture of the panel you posted shows you doing 110mph indicated at 8700ft. That's nearly 130mph true airspeed... is that right??? That's a quick PA12.

Nice airplane! Congratulations! A great item to consider for your want list would be a fuel computer. JPI FS450 or the EI unit. I would get a stand alone fuel computer and not one incorporated into the engine analyzer, it gets too busy if its all in one gauge. I swear by fuel computers, they are awesome! Once again, congratulations!

Kurt

Oops, sorry, double post.