Atos Camera Wingmount

I've had a few requests from people wanting to know how I mount a video camera to the wing of an Atos, and since I just built some new wingmounts for my Atos VX, I took some pictures of the process so I could create this little how-to article.

First, a major point to consider about hanging a camera off an Atos wing this way is that it requires punching a small hole in the sail where the camera will mount. In my case, I bought my Atos used, and the sail already had some patches and scuffs on it, so it wasn't that big a factor. I thought a lot about how to build a camera mount, and this was the best method I could come up with. The size of the hole is very small, around the size of the hole in a flex wing where the side wire goes through up to the leading edge. Not a big deal. When flying without a camera mounted, you can just stick a little piece of tape over it you'd like. I don't even do that...the hole is so small that it's not even an issue.

Here's the process that I used to build the wing mounts.

Here's a pic of the back of the right side leading edge spar on my VX. This is where the camera mount will be created/attached.
I made a steel bracket that fits the back of the leading edge spar. I welded a 3/8" nut on it, which is where the camera mount arm screws in. This bracket will rest against the back of the leading edge, and the arm that holds the camera will stick up through the hole in the sail and screw in to this bracket. I drilled some holes in the upper part of the bracket so the epoxy would be able to get a better grip on the bracket.
Here's a look at most of the materials I used to build the mount: Steel bracket 30 minute epoxy Carbon fiber fabric Peel ply dacron Gloves, mixing cups, brushes Scale to measure the epoxy Some heavy duty paper clasps that are good for holding the carbon/peel ply in place I also used some saran wrap and masking tape. The saran wrap makes a good barrier that keeps the carbon/epoxy off of the spar.
I placed a layer of saran wrap on the back of the spar and taped it in place. I then mixed up some epoxy, and brushed a layer onto the saran wrap, and began putting layers of carbon fiber in place. I just pressed them in to place in the back of the leading edge, put a layer of peel ply on them, then used the paper clasps to hold it all in place till the epoxy hardened. I've found that you can speed up the process by putting in two layers of carbon fabric at once. This piece is not structural, all you need is for it to be molded to the back of the spar and for it to harden in that shape.
Here's a pic of what it looks like after two layers of carbon have been put in place, and the peel ply removed.
I put 4 layers of carbon fiber in place and let it set up. Then, I placed the steel bracket in place, and put two more layers of carbon fabric on top of the bracket. Perhaps a better description would be to say that I sandwiched the steel bracket in between carbon fabric. This is a pretty poor picture, but this is the whole assembly after it all set up and I pulled if off the back of the spar
Here's a better pic. This is the bracket assembly after I trimmed the ragged carbon fiber edge off, and used a belt sander to clean it up. Although it looks like poor coverage of epoxy on the final layer, that's not really the case, I just didn't get the peel ply pressed down completely into the wet epoxy. You wouldn't even need to use peel ply on the final layer, but using it does leave a smoother finish.
Finally, here's the wingmount assembly in place on the leading edge. I used a couple of blobs of RTV silicone to glue it to the back of the spar. This will hold it solidly in place, but should still allow it to be removed if I ever want to take the assembly off. I doubt that I'll remove them, though. They are pretty light weight, and when flying with them, they have no effect on handling. I've built one of these for each side of the Atos, so I now have the option of mounting the camera on either wing. The final step in this process is to set the glider up and cut a small hole where the camera mount arm will stick up into the sail and screw into the bracket. If you are building this type of mount, DO NOT cut the hole in the sail until the glider is set up, because the sail needs to be tight. When the sail is loose, it moves some, and cutting a hole in it while loose would result in the hole being in the wrong spot.

The first chance I get, I'll take some pics of the glider with the camera arm in place, coming down out of the sail, and the camera attached, and I'll update this page with them.

I hope this answers the questions that some have asked about how I mount the camera. These mounts work very well for me, and once in place, it's very easy and quick to put a camera on the glider.

A lot of pilots are starting to get involved with making in-flight videos, and I hope this article helps some of you out that might need an idea about how to hang a camera on an Atos Wing.

Fly Safe

Jim