I flew a CJ6, the underpowered Chineese vesion. Very easy to fly. Isn't the 52 on the pic a classical gear convertion? Anyway, the guy who flies the CJ6 has a simple private pilot, learned to fly the plane in about 10 hours and bought it for $37k.
The maintenance, he had somebody explain him how to do the annual.
Be aware, those planes, even as easy as they are, are not like the "turn the key and go" type. You need to work on them before you start everytime. Meaning, draining the cylinders from oil and other minor tasks. In the Cj6, everything is air actuated, from gears to flaps.
The brakes are funny, you kick the rudder full deflection (nothing hapens) then you press a lever on the stick, and with little piiiiiisht piiiiiiisht, you swing you way on the taxi way
I think it's a "free front wheel" if I recall coorectly, like the P38.
The range is far from great either, x-country wise.
As far as the fun factor, it's definitly there. Starts with a big bang of smoke and makes heads turn with the proper camo. You will need to find someone who already has one to teach you how to fly it, and check you out for FAA purposes, The insurance will require you to have an amount of hour in it who's impossible to obtain, thus you will need hard negociations to get insured.
easy to fly
easy to maintain
very fun
cheap to buy
parts available
poor range
pain to check out/insure
That's my experience with those, maybe others have an another story. Good luck.
