Can any of you Shermaholics out there tell me if the following combination will give me a reasonable representation of an early small hatch Sherman III in British / Commonwealth service :

Q1.
Can I use use a Tamiya M4 small hatch early hull (kit 35190) combined with an M4A2 engine deck from Italeri’s Marine Sherman ?

Q2.
I know I’ll have to change the angle of the rear end plate on the hull top and create new end plates for upper & lower hulls, I have a Tank Workshops late hull M4A2 conversion kit, can I copy that for the exhaust system & rear plates ?

Q3.
The rear end of the turret splash ring is a slightly different profile but I can recreate this from plasticard. Is there anything else glaringly obvious that I’m missing ?

Q4.
Which suspension is most likely, return roller on top, horizontal or upswept trailing arm.

I also know that Formations make a conversion kit but I have the Tamiya & Italeri kits in the stash ready to go and Rob's kit is designed to be used with the Academy kits

So what do you think or am I barking up the wrong tree or just plain barking so to speak

Appreciate your comments.

Happy modelling
Ant

I'm no expert on the M4A2, but I'll give your questions a shot:




There's a bit more to change than just the deck (you note the rear hull angle and lower hull rear in your next post). On the front, the bumps that have the driver and co-driver hatches should have a more boxy shape. On the M4, they were cast parts welded into the front plate -- on the M4A2, they were welded. This can be done, but it requires a bit of skill with sheet plastic and putty (not sure what your scratch-building ability is). Rob Erwin of Formations based his M4A2 on the Tamiya kit.




Yup. Should be about the same between late and early, except for some fittings, like the tow clevises and tow hook.




None that I know of. I'd have to dig out some kits and the Hunnicutt book to answer for certain.




Horizontal trailing arm.

I considered a similar conversion of the Tamiya M4 before the Formations kit came out. Personally, I'll probably go with the Formations kit and use the M4 for something else (like converting it to an accurate M4)

Thanks Bob,

You're excellent response is much appreciated, I may well invest in the Formations kit, as I have been told that the Italeri rear deck isn't entirely accurate either.

Once again many thanks.

Happy modelling
Ant

Hi Ant ...everything hollowpoint has said is very accurate but not all M4A2's were all welded in the front so you can,leave it as is ..There is an undercut under the bulges that needs to be added ..page 182 of the Hunnicutt book...But I will agree that most were built all welded before the change over to the 47% hulls.. If you buy the new Jackson kit you will get the old parts from the M-10 and that means a back plate for the M4A2 ..how cool is that!! I still think I'll be going the easy way and buy the Formations kit ..Robs stuff looks awesome ...

Rick