Alan P

The switch position is monitored.

Very surprised this is your takeaway. Seems to me the opposite is true.

The FCSs are positioned behind their respective thrust levers, this is not at all special or uncommon. The aircraft is designed to fly with autothrottle from takeoff roll to landing roll so your hands have no business hovering around behind the throttle quadrant for any reason, never mind touching the switches. While nothing has a zero risk (in terms of mathematical probability), the guards are there to protect the switches from damage, because they stick out, not from inadvertent operation. To operate the switch, you have to pull it out of the respective detent, then move it over the locking ramp, then release it to seat in the new detent. It's not like a light switch.

I'm super impressed by the impeccable results your laziness has produced! Fantastic looking model 💪

If engine fire or severe damage/separation, it's a two (actually three!) step procedure. First the related FCS is moved to cutoff, then you pull the fire switch (separate T-handles right behind the thrust pedestal). If it's a fire, you then twist it to shoot one of the fire bottles. Twisting the other way shoots the second fire bottle if required.

The flight deck FCSs (Fuel Control Switches) function as a pilot-operated analogue switch regardless of whether the aircraft is airborne or on the ground, irrespective of air-ground sensing. The engines can't 'switch themselves off' if the A-G state is uncertain. The FADECs will shut down an engine regardless of FCS position if key parameters are exceeded, but A-G sensing is not one of them. On a side note, there are six redundant and autonomous WOW sensors in the oleos, and in the event of disagreement, the CCS (Common Core System, the distributed, electronic 'brain' of the aircraft) compares airspeed and radio altitude, among other sensors, to make a logical choice. Regarding the FCS switch position (RUN or CUTOFF), in the event of a dual engine failure the memory item is to move both switches to CUTOFF, then back to RUN. Regarding the observed flap position, Flaps 1 is an approved takeoff setting for the 787. The trailing edge flaps remain up or barely deployed, while the leading edge slats are deployed to the first detent. Regarding "sluggish or slow takeoff performance", the 787 has double engine derate. This means you can use a fixed thrust derate (TO-1 or TO-2) up to 20% of max thrust for performance reasons. On a long runway with few obstacles after takeoff, this makes sense as it trades runway length for climb performance and reduces engine wear, noise, and fuel consumption. In addition you can enter an assumed temperature, where you trick the FADECs into using an air temperature (therefore lower air density) higher than the actual temperature, further reducing the max-rated thrust output for the actual conditions. Combine the two techniques and you end up with a very low thrust setting for a normal takeoff. The full thrust takeoff may require 95% of N1 thrust, but the double-derate could bring that down to just 76% for exactly the same weight and conditions. The result is a much longer takeoff roll but saves a lot of fuel and engine wear. Some operators may have an SOP (or folklore) procedure where the PM (pilot monitoring) puts their hand behind the thrust levers to ensure the power is at TOGA thrust for takeoff, but there is no question that the PF (pilot flying) keeps their hand on the thrust levers until V1 to ensure they can reject the takeoff up to that point. At V1, the PF removes their hand from the thrust levers and places it on the yoke (if there is one) or on their lap (if it's a sidestick). I've seen some operators have a policy that when the First Officer is flying, the captain must keep their hand on the thrust levers as their SOP is that only the captain can reject the takeoff. In any case, as @Dave Swindell pointed out, at rotation, the PF's hands would be on the yoke for takeoff anyway. I'm not an expert by any means, but I flew the 787-8 from its introduction in 2013 and have more than just a layman's knowledge about the aircraft. But I've done 4 type ratings since then, so what I still remember is rusty at best! For that reason, it would be nice, as both @hairystick and @wellsprop said, if we took a mature approach and just let the investigation do its work. There'll be plenty of actual facts and primary information to talk about once the preliminary and full reports are released. But I guess in the internet age, everybody wants to get 'the scoop' and be first to guess the answer 😕

Don't know how I missed this from before, a rare bird indeed! Looks fantastic 👍

Clearly I'm not charging enough for commissions 🤯 I'd be interested to know about any potential connection to the HK Models kit, not one I'm familiar with, but £64k sounds a bit steep 😂

Work continues, though it's much more like fun! (HAVING FUN! remember that?! I almost forgot!) Saying goodbye to the Theatrium - after test fitting all the clear parts it'll be completely invisible without a powerful torch. Ah, well. At least I still have the photos! Spa house completed super pleased with this, my favourite part of the ship so far, The roof is poseable, but I'll be leaving it open to view the interior. The fitness deck is fitted at the rear now, along with the midships glazing. That's pretty much structurally complete now. The area behind the spa I'm reliably informed is the nudist area, so I smoked the glass frames with matt varnish. These frames were hard work as they're painted with black framing on the outside but white on the inner side. Looks like a cruise ship now. Still loads of details to add, but the colours make it look really busy already. I should also say that pretty much every part fits almost exactly. This is a lovely kit. Okay, now the bad news.... I painted these smoke but subsequently found out they should be clear. I tried stripping off the paint but ended up snapping bits off both the curved parts. And they didn't clean up completely, which is sad. I've applied to Revell to get a replacement sprue. Fingers crossed they're still available...if so, they are really easy to add at the end of the build as they're on top of the existing structure. In any case, I decided to crack on with the rest of the ship - filling in all the small seams between the front and side levels, then applying the amazing kit decals! These went on using MicroSet and Sol. Trouble free with one small exception. The decals themselves are superb. Excellent opacity and went down like silk. Also added the big nameplate one to the provided base. Even has the tiny patterned decals for the walls of the fun pools. That's one good-looking ship! Next thing is to start adding all of the topside details, Should be fun! This has been a really good, therapeutic build after what was a very difficult first five months of the year. Thanks to Revell for doing something different extremely well again. More soon! Alan

Appreciate the comment @Waltio thanks very much! Pictures will look a bit samey for a while, I've got a lot of updating to do as the site hasn't been very cooperative recently seem to be getting lots of stuttering, delayed loading, loss of posted data etc. And of course the usual 500 error every time I press the Back button Tidied up the pool area a bit - still hard to get sharp lines when brush painting. Had a go at the crazy paved tile floor of the spa, looks excellent if you squint! The trees were test-fitted - I ended up moving some of them around. The spa deck completed - unfortunately I forgot to paint the green deck around the pool deck bit at the bottom of the stairways (left of the part as you look at it.) Otherwise very pleased with this bit! Ended up fitting everything together - and that's the ship structure more or less topped out. Just a couple more levels to add behind the pool theatre. It's a riot of colour compared to what I usually build! Just need to finish off those pool deck bits at the join between the forward and midships decks. Does make me feel like I need to go on holiday! Cheers, Alan

Extraordinary scenes here thanks to @Stephen, The Model Centre (themodelcentre.com) payday deals had the Boston IV at an irresistible price!

Need those big bombers in my stash!

This is a mammoth project but it's coming together very quickly! Most of WEM's back catalogue is still produced and sold by Tom's Modelworks in the US, but the additional postage costs are crazy.

This really proves what a difference 3D printing skills can make to a model! Looking much better now.

Beautifully done, a sharp and neat result. Perfect symmetry on that head-on shot, looks bigger than 1/72 as well 👏👏👏