...for a British Sherman IIa in Italy? Hobby Boss or Bandai? (I have Steve Faxon's correct large hatch M4A1 hull, so the mis-shapen Hobby Boss hull isn't an issue.)

hi mate i dont mind the hobbyboss kit as the worst problems are easy fixed
1/commanders cupola is to big in the hatch area it just needs asmall ring of card put in and the hatch trimmed to fit or replace it with a tamiya pershing one
2the mantle needs about 1.5mm added to the width not a great amount
they are most of the areas that iknow about .check out the pmms website as it has a good 48th reveiw section which has the hobbyboss shermans in detail i.havent seen the bandai kit so i cant compare .dragos popescu who regularly contributes to this site is pobably the best person to tell you about shermans he does know his stuff. hope it helps wayne

to build. There were many variations in castings for these turrets, depending on which foundry was doing the casting, and what production run the turret was in. There were improvements and additions/deletions of features and details. The earliest T23 turrets did not have rear ventilators, for example, and many of the T23 turrets had heavy rings cast into the turret to support a jib boom crane that eventually was not adopted. But the rings are there on many earlier turrets.

There also were changes in planned radio antenna locations, so some turrets have cast-in spots for radio antenna pots to be installed. but those locations were not used. Also note that the T23 turrets with the loader's gun ring hatches had a "figure eight" raised coaming around the inboard areas of both the cupola and loader's hatch that was not present when the oval loader's hatch was installed.

So, be sure the turret you use matches the variant of Sherman you are doing, and the best way to do that, as a practical matter, is to look at photos and choose the turret details that match the tank you are modeling. HTH, BC

Bruce, on the "true T23" turrets with the extra rig for a jib boom; have you seen these on an M4A1? So far I have encountered these only on M4A3 76mm's (we have a couple here in Nebraska on M4A3E8s).

The turrets without the rear blower seem to show up on early M4A1 76mm (per photos).

Gary

The only photos I've seen of the jib boom crane mounting rings have been of dismounted turrets in Europe as war memorials. I readily admit to being in the dark on the finer details of Sherman turret production runs. It's true the early M4A1 76mm Shermans had most of the early T23 turrets without the rear ventilators because those were the first 76mm gun tanks produced. Now you know why I am using photos to validate all my Sherman models for the project..... That will keep me relatively on the straight and narrow. Ya know, it's way past time for Joe DeMarco to write a book......