I haven't posted an update in a while but I have been working on the front doors and windows. The front window frames are fabricated from .032 aluminum. I bought a piece of 4' X 4' X .125 smoke acrylic for my front windows. The acrylic comes with masking paper glued to both sides to prevent it from scratching while you're cutting it. Well it wasn't until I had already cut one of the windows out that I removed some of the masking paper from a scrap piece and discovered that the acrylic was much too dark to be used for front windows. It's about as dark as privacy glass. As nice as it would be for knocking down the heat from the summer sun it would have been a safety hazard to use. So now I have a cut piece of smoke acrylic that I paid $74 for. I still may use it in the doors if I decide to go that route. Aircraft Spruce only sells smoke, green, and clear acrylic. I didn't think I could stomach green so I went with clear. Hey the Bearhawk can be flown with the windows open so if it's that hot I'll fly with them open. The acrylic is cut about 1/4" smaller than the window frames. This will allow for expansion and contraction. Likewise the holes that the windows are mounted through are drilled two drill sizes larger than the screws that will be used to hold them in. On the backside of the windows you can see where I cut 1" strips of .032 to be used as window retainers. Screws will go through the outside window skin, through the holes in the acrylic. through the 1" retainers and will be held with nyloc nuts.
