1/72`` Academy Boeing KC-97R Stratocruiser 52-2643
Boeing KC-47L Stratofreighter "Big Ol Smokey"

OK here we go now that the 2 F-16's have been finished the KC-97R Stratocruiser has been started!

Her nickname is "Big Ol' Smokey" aka BOS97.

I will be painting the 97 into the boxart scheme of 2643 with the added white cockpit section of 2782.

I'll be using a modified set of General Electric J47 turbojets from all scrapped Hasegawa B-47.

I have upgraded the cockpit and painted it to modern day standards.

Starting with the main instrument panel:
Eurofighter Typhoon "Trench 1" Heads Up Display units x2
Modular Multi-Functional Display units attached to either side of the instrument panels.
The new systems that the MFD's and HUD units use include navigation which has eliminated the need for a navigator onboard.
With this in mind I have chosen to move the Boom operator from the tail upto the navigator table.
I have added a computer onto the table and a joystick and to finish it off I also added a camera mounted into the old Boom Operators window which I call the Crows Nest.

As a tribute to the 2024 D-Day anniversary I have added 2 Nose Arts, one either side, on the lower surfaces of the nose.