Back when I had a Eurofox I wanted to capture video from the wing strut looking in towards the aircraft (or a forward view), so I started looking for solutions, but nothing seeming like a good option for the Eurofox’s thin/flexible strut fairings. I was also fairly concerned by the twisting forces being imparted on a very important structural part.
So I put together a basic design that would clamp onto the tie-down mounts, which although part of the wing strut connection to the wing, are separate enough that if a failure of any kind were to happen it would be the welding of the tie-down mounts only.
Here’s the Original OnShape 3D CAD design which wasn’t quite right in the end, and I had to make some small adjustments when I got the parts and starting drilling and assembling the parts. I didn’t get any photos or video of this, but hopefully the photos of the mount on the wing are useful.
Parts List
Tie-down clamp
- 500mm length of Aluminum Channel (U profile) 38.1mm x 19mm x 3.2mm (https://www.metals4u.co.uk/materials/aluminium/aluminium-channel/3037-p)
- 2x U-Bolts M6 20mm Inner Width (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07K45BV6R/)
- 4x Knurled Thumb Nuts M6 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WHVSX7X/)
- 4x M6 rubber washers (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N5TMHRQ/)
- for the thumb nuts to provide some grip on aluminium channel
- Silicone Tube 6mm ID x 10mm OD (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08GPD22ZC/)
- for the bottom of the U-Bolt to soften the contact to the tie-down loop
- Rubber edge trim 8mm x 6mm (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017QFPUXS/)
- for protecting the strut edges, where the aluminium channel touches it
- can only see this in the last Kitfox image at the bottom of the page
Smallrig rod mount
- 2x Smallrig 15mm rod 400mm length aluminum alloy (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AZFX77S/)
- for connecting the two mounting points, and mounting the camera to
- I later got an extra 300mm length rod to extend the camera out some more
- 2x Smallrig 15mm rod clamp (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0747P6YJ2/)
- for clamping the rod onto the tie-down clamp
- 1x Smallrig camera rod extension connector (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0098ZHEB6/)
- for connecting the 400mm rods together
- 4x M4 bolts and non-slip nuts (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08JQ7WSKS/)
- for mounting the Smallrig rod clamp to aluminium
- overkill as you get 50x, but good for my future projects too
GoPro rod clamp
- 1x GoPro tube/pole clamp (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01L2CQCJC/)
- for actually mounting the camera, though this is the official more expensive version of all the cheaper ones out there!
Photos