A estate has a Wag aero pa-18 for sale. 150 hp 0320. about 50 hours ago it had o/h don't know if it was a top or complete major. Built around late 80's. The bad news is a hanger door damaged one of the wooden wings (no flaps), it has a new alum wing kit (2-one partial built). Wondering what should I offer for it ? It's also about 1200 miles away. THANKS! in advance Forrest J
Whats a wag-aero sc worth?
- Thread starter fjdrill
- Start date
Coyote Ugly
MEMBER
Middle of Nevada
Mine is awesome.. Like it better than my Piper. I'd guess 25G??
SpainCub
Registered User
Wow... is that with wood wings?
TulBiplane
Registered User
Plano, TX
Is it really a replica of a PA-18? Or is it a Wag-Aero Cuby (opps, showing my age....now known as a "Sport Trainer") where they hung an O-320 and put an enclosed cowling on it. Obviously, the marketing guy that posted the ad wants you to pay Super Cub prices but I would really want to inspect the fuselage and convince myself it was something very close to PA-18 standards before you close the deal. A pure J-3 is not the ideal frame for a O-320....imho. - Brad
Cub junkie
Registered User
My Moms basement
Depends on the workmanship and what type of upper deck it has. Wag Aero's modification to hang an O-320 on what is essentially a J3 is a bunch of extra tubing right where you don't want it. Nothing wrong with wood wings. Depends on what you plan in the future for the airplane. It's easy to get wrapped up in the axle viewing other people's playtoys on this site.
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Coyote Ugly
MEMBER
Middle of Nevada
Aluminum...
Dave Calkins
Registered User
Anchorage, Alaska
One of the best flying "cubs" I have had the pleasure of experiencing was an unflapped Cuby powered by a 290D2.
..the J-3 style topdeck was not optimum, but the airplane sure flew nice.
There is a ton of good advice here about this a/c's worth......
......with a healthy dose of "....it depends....".
..the J-3 style topdeck was not optimum, but the airplane sure flew nice.
There is a ton of good advice here about this a/c's worth......
......with a healthy dose of "....it depends....".
fancypants
FOUNDER
IL
There can be many little differences between a Wag homebuilt and a factory PA-18. If you're planning to fix it and keep it, make sure you can sit in the thing without your knees hitting the panel. I spent a decent chunk of change on airfare only to find that the seat frame was built differently and not adjustable. Check the wing angle of incidence and attach points. I think the Wag plans may have borrowed a few angles from the J-3 or PA-12 fuselage. Probably has the trim tab instead of the jack screw, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I prefer the jackscrew on Cubs.
?.?.? I am currently building a super cub that started out as a Sport trainer. The tubing you are talking about for the bigger engine exactly matches the Northland fuselage drawing. How is that putting extra tubing "exactly where you dont want it"?
Fortysix12
Registered User
RanchAero Grand Vista, Brooksville
Its a rebuild no matter what.An experimental rebuild at that. start at 5k. If they 2+2 wings wood , you will like them .But dont know how you can offer without seeing first.
Cub junkie
Registered User
My Moms basement
Wag Aero does not supply any information on putting a PA18 top deck on their airplanes that I'm aware of. Their cub drawings also have the front wing attach fitting a full 1.5 in. lower than the Northland drawing. The "Super Sport" supplement supplied by Wag Aero adds two 7/8"x.065 tubes from the J3 type wing attach to the top cluster just behind the upper engine mount spools. Many folks think Wag Aero is crap and that is unjust. They supply material kits for people to build their own version of a cub and even offer a full welded fuselage but I'm not sure how many they sell compared to their material kits. They supply a lot of the more difficult fittings in their material kits and that gives the homebuilder a boost. The additional tubes are something you have to look around all the time and you sit lower in the airplane too. It was suggested to make sure you can fit in the front seat and I agree with that too. Most people building homebuilt cubs are using a mix of everbody's drawings and coming up with the airplane they want. If a person doesn't need their airplane for commercial purposes the exp category is the way to go. There are some outstanding experimental cubs out there that didn't start life with a 15 grand airframes alaska fuselage. Some Wag Aero cubs end up with an O-320 with a J3 firewall/boot cowl and thats looks goofy. You need at least a PA11 firewall to make the airplane look decent.
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A guy I once worked for started his flying career in a wag-aero cuby. He talked about that airplane all the time and loved it. It had flapless wood wings and an 0-200. The plane got took apart for a recover and some goofball stacked the wings on top of each other and crunched some of the ribs. The fuselage got converted to a "supercub". That guy still had the wings last I knew and his goal was to rebuild them and resurrect that plane. The biggest strike against the cuby is the j-3 top deck and lack of flaps (my opinion). If the workmanship is ok and the empty weight isn't too high, it is probably a great performer. If you can buy it reasonably, it might be a good deal. Just guessing, I would say around 20K
1'st THANKS!! all for the input. The problem is that the info on the plane is coming 2-3 hand from across U.S. It's a canadian built; wag-aero, pa-18, builders name (who knows). It's got some kind of extended baggage (two acceses on port side} Trim tab.The alum wig kits are of unknown orgin at this time( being located away at a home garage/basement). They do have flaps. Also, the ribs are formed & flap/aileron have "D" section LE like D&E's kit. There are some kind of hokie pokie flap /aileron hinges/brackets -again who knows. I'm going to request the empty wt and and then - make a offer on a high time, exp rebuild project w/poor workmanship. Again its 1200 miles away & I'm not going that far without bring something home and if it has poor wokmanship the parts would be a great start on something else. If it's a beefed up j3/cubby i'll build a Clipped wing cuby (Always wanted a CW W/L-4 greenhouse & c90/0200). If pa-18ish -strip and rebuild w/ mods. Only question is what is the avg wt of: W-A exp sc,150hp wing tanks,float fittings, who knows what mods??. THANKS AGAIN!!!!! Forrest Johnston
I should have qualified that. All of the reinforcing from the top longeron down on the super sport drawings match Northland. I am one of those guys building from several sets of drawings. My top deck will be PA -18 style. With D&E wings Im looking at 900-950lbs empty.
Paul Heinrich
PARTNER
Illinois & Wisconsin
You may be, and most likely will be, better off starting from scratch yourself.
Cub Builder
MEMBER
North Central AR
Every amateur built plane needs to be evaluated for what it offers, how it's constructed and quality of workmanship. If you want an Experimental, that's great. But understand that it is an Experimental aircraft and expect to see strange things fail over time that wouldn't normally fail on a factory built plane. Very few Wag Aero plans built planes are actually built to plans. Most builders incorporate other ideas from other plans, or just incorporate other ideas, some good, some not so good. To set a value, you have to do a close inspection for quality of workmanship and what the plane has or doesn't have. While the owners would like to claim the same value as a SuperCub, realistically, they are not. Whether is has a real SuperCub fuselage isn't really all that relevant, but being built to some kind of standards with high quality workmanship is.
I completed a Wag Aero Cuby that was supposed to be built to "SuperCub Standards" that I bought from an estate. I was shocked at how many things were non-standard (practically everything). I had to go through and evaluate each of the modifications for design and construction before deciding to keep or change them. In my eyes the value takes a real hit when you can't talk to the builder to ask why certain things were done or how they were done.
-CubBuilder
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Found out the planes empty wt is 1138, cg=73.3. TT A/F a little over 1000hrs, engine O/h 53 hrs ago? includes a full set of skies, extra prop,float fittings,alum wing kit (one partial built), The wood wing not damaged just the fabric and strut bent (new one included). It does need new cover They are thinking the plane and extras are worth 25-30K I'm going to pass on it. To much empty weight, to far away and to much $ with not seeing the workmanship. THANKS!! for all the input!! fjdrill
Fortysix12
Registered User
RanchAero Grand Vista, Brooksville
If it happened to be solid quality and you bought for 20k, I don't see how you could loose,dont let 1138 scare you.thats not a bad number
Cub junkie
Registered User
My Moms basement
I agree with Fortysix12, if the workmanship is acceptable then there is a lot of extras and you will be able to sell wood or metal cub wings. They are always in demand.
I requested good photos of the plane.(mainly the cabin area to see what the top deck is). Also, I was thinking mt wt of 1138 was getting a little on the high side for a stock pa-18 type w/wood wings,small tires (looked like 600x6's) and stock gear. I'm also worried about the wood wings. Why was he building alum wings if the woods are ok. I'll have to give those a very good inspection. I googled the #'s on the extra prop: it's for a 172. Can't be worth much. How much wt will alum wings w/flaps & all the handles/rigging etc weigh.. Also, what will 3" gear w/26" tires going to push the weight to. I'm going to call them today-To see what configuration the plane was in when the wt/bal was done. With 1000hrs on a homebuilt alot can be changed. Thanks fjdrill.
