Modifications
The space under the skylight was only about 1/2″ to the bottom of the Engine Room superstructure. I had originally thought to print an overhead view of a Engine Room to glue to the bottom so you could see it through the skylight, but there is a real lack of any such image online.
I then thought of 3d printing something that would give an impression of the top of the engine etc. That meant I would need to remove the skylight framing to have access to the area under the skylight. In addition If I cut away some of the hull under the skylight I could get at least an inch of space. Here .. I have highlighted said framing in green.
I could also take time to make the skylight “Mo betta” by making it a separate piece to be added to the Engine Room superstructure after that is finished. I have found that any time you seal away something .. such as the 3d print .. you always seem to need access at some point.
Breakage
This was a bit more difficult then I expected. Removing the old skylight framing wasn’t that big a deal but the structure had a one piece 0.040″ styrene on the bottom. This made the model strong .. until I removed it. I managed to break almost every seam of the skylight section loose before I finished removing the bottom. This bottom had acted as a major structural member and I was left with a flimsy model.
Thicker walls
Since this model does not follow any real design; just something from my imagination, I added 0.040″ styrene to the sides of the skylight “box” to make the structure a long stronger. The only real restriction was to leave room for the crew to move along the side.
The area under the skylight is now fully open. I am going to open up the deck in that area so I can add “Engine Stuff” with that ~1″ of space. I’m also going to add a thin sheet of plastic over where the holes for the Cowl Ventilators to be more precise with those holes.
I need to reinforce those holes too .. probably a short length of Evergreen tubing with a piece telescoped over the end to make the ventilators fit securely.
I added two .1″x.1″ Evergreen strips to the front and back to strengthen the structure.
The new Skylight
The “plan” is to try and build it from laser cut 1/32″ Basswood (what I have is actually 0.040″ thick) and stripwood. One of the frustrations for me when building out of styrene is aligning everything so hopefully the laser cut bits will help align everything. This “should” work .. hopefully. I could also 3d print it if the wooden version fails.
Sketchup Render
This CAD drawing isn’t just a drawing. Each part you see has a purpose. One of the neat things about creating a 3D model is that you can virtually build the thing and make sure everything fits before actually building it. That helps eliminate errors early on. I say “helps” .. I always find there is something I forgot.