I’ve had the opportunity to watch 2 modified PA-12 aircraft being totally rebuilt. Both these airplanes had been in service in Alaska, and seen strenuous duty. I noticed that even though these aircraft had no damage history, there was evidence of tubing deformation in highly stressed areas. These were both stock airframes that had much smaller and lighter engines originally. Upon rebuilding, the most common practice is to add more tubing, or X brace the weak areas. We decided to incorporate larger diameter and thicker tubing in high stressed areas making our fuselages more durable than standard

Below is a list of modifications to the standard PA-12 that we incorporated:

• Standard PA-12 Fuselage geometry ( except for the landing gear - PA-18)
• PA-18 Landing Gear ready
• X brace top of fuselage
• Cathedral truss
• Dual gull wing doors
• Dogleg in baggage compartment
• Boxed tail reinforcement
• Adjustable front pilot seat
• 1” 4130 square tubing door posts
• Removable rear seat support Tube