Christian Lehmann
Aghis, why the engines?

Burkhard D
Probably because that's the best rendition of a fan in any 1:144 kit.

Bill Gilman
There were some graphics on the Aviation Week website recently that showed the flex in the wings under maximum load. When viewed from the front (in the in-flight maximum load condition), the tips of the wings are at the same vertical height as the top of the fin. Amazing!

Burkhard D
Yes, the tips move up 26ft at a load factor of 3,75g

Bill Gilman
That might be a little disconcerting to watch when you're sitting in the window seat near the wing! Of course, 3,75g in an airliner is disconcerting just by itself! 🙂

Burkhard D
The 'design load', which is the maximum expected to be seen in service, is 2,5g. Designers put a safety factor of 1,5 on top, that's how one ends up with 3,75g. That's the 'ultimated load' the aircraft has to sustain without catastrophic failure in a full-size rig test.

Aghis Barberopoulos
@ Christian: The fan blades look amazingly realistic for 1/144! Also the whole nacelle is very well painted.
Interesting thing is real aircraft have less and less metal these days, while model aircraft have more and more metal...

Christian Lehmann
Thanks for this explanation. I am not so familiar with airliner kits. 🙂