New Owner PH-1140

[Toet]

Hi Everyone,

A  brief introduction. We're the new owners of the PH-1140, a ASW-15B (c/n 15136). The ship was owned by 2 clubmembers of ZCH Den Helder in the Netherlands. After a horrific winter in a leaking trailer, the ship had suffered severe waterdamage at the fuselage and wings. After it was inspected by several people, the owners decided that they wouldn't invest anymore and sell the ship. Together with my buddy Stefan, we decided to step up to this challenging project. And we found a great support in our CFI and previece owner to guide us through this tough restauration, but also to get acquaintance with the flight characteristics. We'll document the whole restauration proces, and if you're interested, we'll post frequently our progress on this forum.

For now, happy landings for everyone!

Peter

[Toet]

Some pics:

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

Nice! Where is the water damage?

[Toet]

Hi Johan, it's on top of the fuselage   The water has penetrated the coating, so on several locations the paintwork is cracked and bubbled. But the glass structure is fine, it has been surveyed by SCT in Terlet. Technically, the ship is airworthly, so the problems are purely cosmetically.

[Flammer]

Damaged?  Those pictures presents a real pretty glider! 

[Toet]

Hi Flammer,

I agree, these shots disguise the real issues pretty much. I'll take some pics that realy reveal the damage and post 'm here. But we're glad that this ship is in potential a great glider! That's why we choose to buy this ship.

[Toet]

We're getting there.... The exterior paintjob is finished now and from the outside, she's beautifull again.. Just like 40 years ago! From the inside is a different story. True beauty is from inside, right? So we changed everything from the inside aswell. All new ball bearings, both in the fuselage as the wings. All controlrods are sanded down and painted... The interior has a new paint and smells like teenspirit again. Now our focus is on the instruments: all are overhauled with Form One, and we added some Flarm and flightcomputers. So, we are getting there, I guess. She will fly again in May. That's for sure!

[Flammer]

It looks great!  But be careful with the weight, mine was repainted some 20 years ago, and is kind of heavy.  This winter, I am trying to lose some weight to be ok with the W&B......  Already the end of january and no good progress! 
I still have 2 months...

[Toet]

Hi Flammer,

The weight is ok. During the process we checked the weight constantly. We have sanded down old layers aswell, so now we're even 400 grams lighter than when we started. I think with all in place we're going to end somewhere around 220kg. If not, we will ask the Weight Watchers to be our prime sponsor....

[Flammer]

My empty weight is 231.33 kg,  and my 15 is not a B, so I am limited at 318 kg.  Thats not a big margin tp play with, including parachute and all...  That 11 kg more that my glider has might prevent me from flying next summer...  Lets go to the gym!   

[Toet]

Well, she is flying! We got our ARC and took her straight to the skies:

ASW-15: Three Charlie is Flying!

The complete overhaul and result can be viewed overhere:

https://picasaweb.google.com/111899814469376018851/3CIsFlying

We're very pleased with the result and our baby isn't gonna be a hangarbaby.......

Cheers,

Peter