Not a fan of the giant support infront of the plane

Hopefully they shall remove it and have Swarm's ride structure hanging up there with no support. :)Anywho, this project heavily reminds me of Reset at Miribilandia now. I'm a sucker for destroyed transportation so I love that plane. Looks amazing.

OK, so this project keeps on impressing. Not only do we have a plane, we have a real plane! Or at least real parts from a plane, those engines are real nacelles people! Although the second engine nearer to the wing tip in the pic above looks like it is yet to be fitted to the wing. 1, there is a metal support under it (which I believe is temporary) 2, it is not at the same angle as the other engine, it is slightly rotated suggesting it is yet to be fitted.Bloody amazing though.

and those engines, well the casings anyway are General Electric Turbofans that I would imagine (complete guess) are from the late 80's early 90's

The Airbus A340 is a beauty!A cargo aircraft, would have been something like this, although the Airbus series is unknown, would have been a smaller version, perhaps the -200. The wings are clearly modified by Merlin studios to fit the ride, removing the wing flaps.As it's not a whole plane, it would have been bought scrap. Might have been a cargo plane might not have been, as it would look the same once its stripped out anyway. Generally the seats are reused because the 300 series still fly. Enough about the plane, lets bask in the SWARMS spotlight!Still loving the picture above

Just wanted to say this. For peeps who talk about that engine with the metal support under it, it won't stay like that. It will be placed on the ground, as the plans show, with a part of it still being connected to the wing itself, so that it will create a head and foot chopper for the right side as well.

Although the second engine nearer to the wing tip in the pic above looks like it is yet to be fitted to the wing. 1, there is a metal support under it (which I believe is temporary) 2, it is not at the same angle as the other engine, it is slightly rotated suggesting it is yet to be fitted.

You can see in the picture that there is a cable still attached to the end of the wing coming from the big green crane. This also implies the plane's fuselage is properly being set into the ground, which means the whole piece of theming may not be completed. It all makes sense that the right hand side propeller is not fully connected to the wing which explains the grey support under it.Also, is that some bricks I can see being unloaded next to the van..?

Hopefully they shall remove it and have Swarm's ride structure hanging up there with no support.

Har har, comedian.

This looks incredible thus far, a great addition to Thorpe Park! Looking forward to it, but hopefully something else will happen with the plane fuselage...

Hopefully :DPlans are coming together. I must say, I love you Thorpe!hmmmm post edited?

What else do you think is going to happen to the fuselage?! This is how it is in the plans and this is how it will stay. Looks amazing! From the plans as has been mentioned above, the engine will be on the ground and a broken engine support will be placed above it on the wing.

I think Kevvy meant that he is not a fan of the Lez Cougan page on Facebook and never will be, so requests somebody to post the videos here so he can view them anyway. Doesn't make much sense as he may as well just like the page but never mind...

No, I meant I don't have facebook so could somebody post them on here...

First view of the tail!Via CoasterUpdates

I hope the left hand side of the wing part doesn't get left like that Will look pretty stupid if it doesAnd still some more to do on tail yet!Looking GREAT!

From the developer diary.....

Video interview with RCS Steel Construction Project Manager.

So it turns out what you need to work in this industry, more than anything else, is charisma. :DAnd the mystery of the track in the lake explained.

Here's the interview- re uploaded for forum and posting purposes,

Look at this huge SWARM promotional poster I came across, which clearly shows fire coming from the plane, can't wait!Enlarge

And water effects!!Hopefully we might see some mist generators used to look like smoke too! Always makes a coaster more fun when you get a little wet!

Look at this huge SWARM promotional poster I came across, which clearly shows fire coming from the plane, can't wait!Enlarge

Look at this huge SURGE promotional poster I came across, which clearly shows it's really tall with immense theming, water squirters that work and a massive tipping bucket, can't wait!Wouldn't pay too much attention to artists impression promo material tbh.

To be fair it's only the tipping buckets which didn't make it on storm surge, which had a much lower budget and to add to that budget cuts along the way.I think we will see these effects on the swarm(null)

Add to the fact Storm Surge is utter cack and yeah comparisons are a bit unfair... ;)Raptor's work as well... The fire might not be on everyday (bloody expensive and wind will factor into it's usage I reckon, a la X2), but depending on where it might be (if it DOES have fire effects) it may not really matter...Though of course, ride promotional imagery doesn't always look the same, Raptor lacks the jungle that the promo was in, doesn't make the ride any worse though...

Look at this huge SURGE promotional poster I came across, which clearly shows it's really tall with immense theming, water squirters that work and a massive tipping bucket, can't wait!Wouldn't pay too much attention to artists impression promo material tbh.

lol, although I would assume swarm will have these effects. We shall see!

To be fair it's only the tipping buckets which didn't make it on storm surge, which had a much lower budget and to add to that budget cuts along the way.

And it is nothing like as high as depicted (that actual view is not even close to being possible), has a big colourful pyramid as a back drop instead of a tidal-esque disaster scene, has no water blankets on the way down, the boats don't come close to splashing up the sides like that and the queue line squirters worked for about 20 minutes ever. And the riders have smiles on their faces ;)Yes, a joke of a comparison I know, but I really would take artists visualisations with a massive pinch of salt. I don't know where the cut off point is where these things become fraudulent, but that SS one is really pushing it. They provide an unrealistic expectation of what they are offering with the sole purpose of selling some tickets. A dangerous game to play - Winter Wonderland anyone?Anyway, I would LOVE the fire effects to actually happen. The fire was a bit wasted on X2 and hardly noticeable, but on Salvation it's incredible. If it is done as the pic suggest from the engine then that would be awesome as you would be flying towards it. But, considering the cost of gas now, and that the same park would not run or maintain a fire effect that went off every 15 minutes as opposed to every 2 or 3 minutes here, I'm not holding my breath.

Even if fire and water effects were to appear on the Swarm, I don't imagine they would be around for too long. Maybe a year or two at best.If the Swarm does have those effects then I imagine Merlin will do a "Tidal Wave" and simply leave them dormant after a few years of service.Merlin seem to be unable to maintain many of their ride effects which is a shame as they can really add to a rides overall experience.Still; I hope I am proven wrong.

Tidal wasn't really left, it was kinda... Physically severed, on purpose, by necessity.

It is a waste of resources too though. God knows how much gas a season would use.

Clearly they were keeping back the water buckets from Storm Surge to be used on The Swarm. And the fire effects will be a technician hiding in the plane engine holding a lit match underneath the riders' feet.

People seem to be forgetting, when they compare the possibility of low-functioning rates on interactive effects to "the Tidal Wave incident", that it was not a Merlin decision to simply stop using the fire tank. It was necessary because Tussauds wanted to install Stealth and in doing so, removed the gas cables that fuelled the fire tank.But then again you only need to glimpse at Colossus' Medusa fountain or Nemesis Inferno's volcano smoke to see that there are effects that are left unused and in disrepair. The Medusa fountain looks like she's just vomited down her front and the water at the bottom of the pit is just stagnating. Surely an SUD would be a worthwhile investment?But back on topic, The Swarm's reliability simply cannot be called yet. There's far too many factors in play and none of them are concrete so at best we have guesswork. If we look to Merlin's previous coaster instalment, SAW, then regardless of a few mishaps here and there, the reliability for the ride's interactive elements has been reasonably high. So really, it could go any way.