Tip: Camera Battery Mount

[Bubblehead]

Over the past few years I have taken a lot of pictures of things on the ground from my -8. Most have been done with various hand held digital cameras. Some have been great, some not so much. I've pretty well gotten the hang of it but always thought something mounted outside the plane would be better.

About two years ago I mounted a GoPro under the left wingtip. It was ok but I had to start the video before takeoff and edit a lot of nothing out to get a little video. Then I added the WiFi backpack with remote, which was better, then I added a tablet in the cockpit that displayed the view through the GoPro and let me control it from the cockpit. A step in the right direction for sure, but battery life meant I had to fly somewhere, land, turn on the camera and backpack, takeoff, and take pictures. I wanted to be able to fly somewhere with the camera and back pack on, take pictures, and then fly to the next destination without running out of power to the camera.

I thought about adding a circuit from ships power to the wingtip lights, but did not want to put a hole into the wingtip. I thought about a LiPo battery but needed two cables to go to the camera and backpack. Then I saw this on Amazon. The picture does not show it but it has two USB jacks on the front and 10 ah capacity.

And I combined it with some of this that I found on eBay. It's water activated casting tape:

More on the next posting.

 

[Bubblehead]

Then I made two half-a**ed molds. I took two flat shelf boards and cut a 2x4 to get about the right size for the battery, then added some plastic sheet and packaging tape to keep the casting tape from sticking to it.

I used gloves of course, but opened the package, wet the whole roll in water, cut it into strips and layed it up to make a flat plate with 4 layers and the trough shaped piece with 4 layers but they are overlapped int he middle since the tape was not wide enough to make it all the way from one side to the other.

On to the next post.

 

[Bubblehead]

The casting tape set up to a firm state in about 20 minutes and was fully cured in about an hour or so. I left it overnight to be sure, plus, the Blackhawks were about to start a Stanley Cup game. I have priorities.

I put a centerline on the flat plate and added holes on the same center as the wingtip attach screws. 2-1/2" I think.

All the holes got countersunk and 100 degree washers added. I used superglue to seal all the edges and to glue the washers to the fiberglass. I also added holes in the trough shaped piece to be enlarged later so I could get a screwdriver to the flat plate. They ended up much bigger by the time I finished it up. The casting tape is stiff and I did not give up much by making bigger holes for the screw and screwdriver to go through.

I used West Epoxy to epoxy the two pieces together. After it cured I beat the heck out of it trying to fracture the epoxy or epoxy/casting tape bond. It bonded great. I don't think it will be coming apart ever.

Some trimming and a little sanding later I put a few coats of cheap spray paint on it. Oh, I almost forgot, I epoxied in place some 1/2 x 1/2 spruce in one end for the camera to bump up against. And I added foam weatherseal to the battery.

Here is the finished product mounted on the plane. I used longer screws than normal for mounting and I need some shorter cables but it looks good.

One more post ought to about do it.

 

[Bubblehead]

I have flown with it three times now and cannot detect any out of trim. The ball might be slightly to one side but I was very surprised how little change it made. I had flown with the camera out there before, and the way the battery is behind the camera I don't think it adds much drag. The battery and mount only weigh 8 oz or so. Any fuel mismatch left to right will be much greater than that.

The movies and timed shots I've taken are ok but the GoPro has a big limitation in that it is not able to zoom at all, which means to get good pictures I need to be low/close. Lower and closer than I want to be. I need to find another camera that can be controlled from my Android tablet but that has either a fixed telephoto lens or can be zoomed. Any suggestions?

I am pleased with how this came out but am really excited about the casting tape. It cost about $10 with shipping and is cheaper with a larger order. I think it may have a lot of applications in our world. Maybe not in the engine compartment but maybe the cockpit or to prototype brackets. I am sure the creative people on here will come up with some great ideas. Oh, and the casting tape is available in lots of colors!