I just received a Sherman composite dry hull with large hatches ( thanks, Bob and Steve!), now, what to do with it! Which turrets might it be fitted with? 76mm with or without muzzlebrake? 75mm late turret with two hatches? Firefly? Or did that have an early composite hull?

Leo, it's always best to look at photos for details, but the M4 composite hull Sherman was a late 75mm model. The best turrets would be the high bustle turret, which did have the oval loader's hatch, and the British Firefly 17 pdr turret (with the rest of the Firefly details). Possibly some may have had the very late low bustle turret, which also had the oval loader's hatch. The Sherman Firefly IC Hybrid models used the hulls with the large hatches.

So far, I don't know of any photos of the rare composite hull M4 with small drivers' hatches being used in combat, but a number were built and were issued for service. Because they had the small hatches, they may have been retained for training in the US and not sent to a combat area. Chris Hughes has shots of a small hatch composite hull M4 with the wider E9 suspension, but it is a preserved vehicle in the US. It was reworked after the war, probably used in the reserves or National Guard, then placed on display as a war memorial. This was the fate of a lot of M4s in the reserve forces, as they lasted longer than the active army tanks, and by the time the last of them were retired, the Sherman's day as a foreign military aid tank was pretty much over.