Okay so I'm working on the turret of my M1 Sherman ( I'm trying to build the cross boned one with 2A marking on the turret – it also has a 3A marking painted over from the 7th brigade). I'm currently stuck on the turret. The M1 book by Dr.Manasherob has a few good pictures of the tank itself but I'm having some trouble seeing all the detail. Attached are pictures of the tamiya instructions and from the book (If there's any problem with me using these pictures please let me know via PM). Anyways, I'm looking for some detailed photos of the spotlight and the other device circled in the instructions (marked as J29). The other circled device is also bugging me as I can't figure out what it is, so a clear picture of that or an explanation what it is would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot, Sven.

J29 is a aiming device iirc and the other is for the smoke grenade.

Yep - J29 is a blade sight, kinda like the "iron sights" on a rifle. The TC could sqiunt through a hole in the rear upright and line it up with a hole in the front part to get the gun roughly on a target, all while looking through his vision block in the cupola whilst buttoned up. He could swing the turret round to the target, then hand over fine aiming to the gunner.

The smoke/grenade launcher ("bomb thrower" in UK parlance) was a tube sticking through the turret roof, with a cap over it when not in use - that's what we see in the last pic. I don't see a blade sight on that tank, but then not all tanks had them...

Here's a detail shot of the aiming device

Some photos of the spotlight:





The opening you see is the M3 2 inch smoke mortar

Thank you all for the wonderful replies. I have enough references for the spotlight and the aiming device now, but Tom confirmed my suspicion that this tank didn't have the aiming device so I'll have to fill in the pre fabricated hole on the turret. However a couple more pictures of the smoke/grenade launcher from the outside would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks to everyone again and kind regards, Sven!