Custom bezel mounts

The default method of fastening the supplied wing bezels is with M3 self tappers, cutting into the acrylic itself. I chose instead to make brackets from 1mm 6061-T6 with embedded zinc plated steel M3 clinch nuts (thanks to Richard Howell for alerting me to these) , in conjunction with stainless steel M3 screws combined with 0.5mm M3 washers.

The existing holes in the bezels badly mismatched the the holes in the leading edge. As the latter are rev 0 this could be a matter of the leading edge holes being moved for subsequent revisions. In my case I just made fresh M3 holes, using only the original topside M3 holes to get started.

The brackets were primed and top-coated, and fastened to the acrylic with hot glue.

Some crazing of the left hand bezel was noted, and a small crack has developed in the right hand bezel, originating in one of the holes. Both these defects are on the underside and not too noticeable.

The bezels used were actually replacement for the originals supplied with the kit. They had the advantage that they were pre-bent. This is what led me to purchase them. They are also 1.3mm thick, greater than the 1mm of the originals. The original, flat, acrylic sheets will be used as replacements if needed. I found that bending the acrylic was quite straightforward by heating, using the new bezels as forms.