I want to install skylights in order to improve situational awareness in the turn; I'd ordered a skylight kit from Jim Clevenger, but after looking through it I decided not to install it. It is designed to fit between the fabric and formers on an already covered and finished airframe; the outer frame rests on top of the fabric and the acrylic and inner frame lies on the inside of the fabric. My concern was that this would put a lot of stress on the fabric. Accordingly, I decided to hard mount the skylight on tabs from the wing former outboard and onto the previously installed tabs from the overhead panel. The aft portion needs attachment to the standoffs, and I fabricated 90 deg right angle brackets of .020 4130 to bridge the wing former to the to the standoffs, and welded 5 tabs to each former. I'll next contour .032 2024-T3 to fit onto the tabs and brackets, with overlap onto the overhead panel, make a skylight cut-out and an inner frame. To be followed of course by priming!
