Rcgreaves
Member
First post here: Prowling Craigslist this past December I stumbled upon and purchased this lovely Jenny replica. fabric tested good, so It followed us home.
There's not much info. out there. What do you know?
Its a 1980's era design that passed through several dealers' hands.
My research led me to Dennis Wiley and Early Bird Aviation in Colorado, Squadron Aviation, Loehle Aviation, and one Lee Parsley who I believe penned the original Cloud Dancer design.
Wiley's Early Bird sports many design enhancements for safety not included in the Cloud Dancer version, mainly the use of Chromoly and crumple zones in the fuse. In a Youtube interview, he reported a vertical nose in crash where the pilot survived. Thatr crash might not go as well were it me surrounded by gusseted aluminum tubing! Not to be confused with the Chromoly fuse Light Sport version from Early Bird and others that generally tips the scales at a real-world roughly 680 pounds. Some less, some more ... Kudos to John Youngblut of Colorado who took my call and fielded my probing questions.
My acquisition is airworthy and has a few issues, mainly its underpowered...but the best is that it tips the scales at 248#. 174 square feet of wing! I want to keep it light and give it more ponies. Most everything out there would put me well above 254#...
My engine research has led me to the ZDZ500BF-J
https://zdzenginesusa.com/product/zdz-500b4-js
- at 38 pounds. Amazing.
My installed engine is a Rotax 277 geared that gives a 300 fpm climb. 68 pounds. where should I shop for fresh ignition parts?
All up: I estimate the ZDZ with a rated 50 hp will weigh in with battery, pipes, canister muffler, twin plug heads at maybe 50 pounds conservatively.
Initially, I am very impressed with what I see about ZDZ on paper, 4-year warranty and so lightweight.
I'm waiting for engine mount schematics from the USA ZDZ dealer.
Who has a set of plans for me?
I'll chronicle my winter/spring setup and resto progress here and hopefully gain from your collective wisdom. Im a PP with 130hours, 10 in tailwheels with transition training scheduled with CFI Steve Krueger in Merril WI when things start looking more green in Wisco. Thanks for your time and interest.
I
There's not much info. out there. What do you know?
Its a 1980's era design that passed through several dealers' hands.
My research led me to Dennis Wiley and Early Bird Aviation in Colorado, Squadron Aviation, Loehle Aviation, and one Lee Parsley who I believe penned the original Cloud Dancer design.
Wiley's Early Bird sports many design enhancements for safety not included in the Cloud Dancer version, mainly the use of Chromoly and crumple zones in the fuse. In a Youtube interview, he reported a vertical nose in crash where the pilot survived. Thatr crash might not go as well were it me surrounded by gusseted aluminum tubing! Not to be confused with the Chromoly fuse Light Sport version from Early Bird and others that generally tips the scales at a real-world roughly 680 pounds. Some less, some more ... Kudos to John Youngblut of Colorado who took my call and fielded my probing questions.
My acquisition is airworthy and has a few issues, mainly its underpowered...but the best is that it tips the scales at 248#. 174 square feet of wing! I want to keep it light and give it more ponies. Most everything out there would put me well above 254#...
My engine research has led me to the ZDZ500BF-J
https://zdzenginesusa.com/product/zdz-500b4-js
- at 38 pounds. Amazing.
My installed engine is a Rotax 277 geared that gives a 300 fpm climb. 68 pounds. where should I shop for fresh ignition parts?
All up: I estimate the ZDZ with a rated 50 hp will weigh in with battery, pipes, canister muffler, twin plug heads at maybe 50 pounds conservatively.
Initially, I am very impressed with what I see about ZDZ on paper, 4-year warranty and so lightweight.
I'm waiting for engine mount schematics from the USA ZDZ dealer.
Who has a set of plans for me?
I'll chronicle my winter/spring setup and resto progress here and hopefully gain from your collective wisdom. Im a PP with 130hours, 10 in tailwheels with transition training scheduled with CFI Steve Krueger in Merril WI when things start looking more green in Wisco. Thanks for your time and interest.
I
