Although the majority of my efforts —as felt by my shoulders and back!— were on performing the final sanding and shaping of the left wing, winglet, rudder and aileron, most all of the pics I have are in regards to knocking out the video camera mounts’ threaded inserts install.

Clearly the video camera mount that I am most concerned about is for the left wing, since I want to have both threaded inserts floxed/micro’d in place prior to my epoxy-wiping the wing surface.  That being said, I pressed forward with other video camera mounts since I was currently performing the task on the left wing.  10 minutes cutting glass, doing a small 5-ply layup or prepping a threaded insert/hole for floxing doesn’t add a whole heck of a lot of time in the grand scheme of things.

Here we have the left wing video camera mount with the front threaded insert installed and the aft 6061 insert/hole ready for install (pic 1). Again, I installed the threaded inserts one at a time due to the curvature of the wing and wanting to ensure they were configured/spaced correctly.  I was a step in tow on the right wing, following suit of the left side, with the forward hole and threaded 7075 insert prepped for flox/micro (pic 2).

And an “action” shot of the left side aft threaded insert floxed/micro’d in place (pic 1) while the right side’s front 7075 threaded insert floxed/micro’d in place (pic 2).

I did a number of micro/West 410 refills on the left wing and winglet, with a decent sized one on the aileron as well.  Here’s a representative shot of some West 410 filler on the outboard wing/winglet intersection (just above the Nav/Strobe light position) and some fills on the lower aft winglet.

In hindsight, I guess I could have grabbed some shots of both the rudder and aileron installed, since today is the first time since I micro’d those that they’ve been on the bird. With that, I took a fair amount of time dialing the fit and finish of those in relationship to the wing and winglet, respectively.

Since I had the template I made up for the wing bolt access covers lying about in the shop, I grabbed it, 4 pieces of carbon fiber scraps and some tape (ok, peel ply too!) and in one of the rounds of my epoxy mixing/layups for the video camera mounts, I added this layup to the mix.

As you can see, I simply used the right wing as the “mold” for both the left and right wing bolt access covers.  Here they are after I laid up the 2 plies of CF each side (pic 1) and after they cured, peel ply pulled and trimmed to shape (pic 2).

And a shot of just the right side carbon fiber wing bolt access cover set in place.  These will be painted the same white as the wings (although in my snarkiness I almost want to leave them black to have the appearance that the holes are still open… haha!).  Moreover, I’ll note that I will be making up a pair of these for the wings’ bottom bolt access ports as well.

Back on the camera mounts, here we have the left side after the aft threaded insert installation cured (pic 1), and then a trial fit after I cut the video camera mount to shape and cleaned it up (pic 2).

Over on the right side, with the forward 7075 insert cured, I drilled the aft 3/8″ hole, prepped the hole innards as well as the 6061 threaded insert for embedding.

I then floxed/micro’d the right wing video camera mount aft threaded insert into the wing (pic 1), and then grabbed a shot much later after cure with the mount cut to shape and all cleaned up (pic 2).

BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!  I had grabbed a pic of yet another video camera mount on the outboard edge of the right strake, underside of course.  Unfortunately, in my rush to get the layup knocked out, the shot was way blurrier than I realized… so here’s a shot of my placement outline using my 3D printed template (note the drilled 3/16″ holes, as this was after I pulled the layup).

Here we have the right strake outboard video camera mount, trimmed to shape and test “installed” with the screws merely inserted into the drilled holes.  Unlike the wing top camera mounts, this one will be held in place by K1000-3 platenut assemblies that I’ll flox inside the outboard strake once the wing is off.  I’ll note that I will NOT be doing this type of video camera mount on the left side, as my magnetometers are on the outboard left strake and I don’t want any screws, bolts, hardware or video cameras that close to the magnetometers.

Now, I’ll caveat that with I may very well mount a camera on the outboard side of the left baggage pod, somewhere mid-to-aft in location (perhaps pylon).  We’ll see.

For a better idea where the underside outboard video camera mount on the right strake is situated, here’s another shot looking inboard.

Ok, a lot more going on than these pictures tell the tale, but moving forward in prep to get the left wing epoxy wiped —TOMORROW, since the weather is forecasted to cool significantly after that.

Pushing onward!