So here is the rear end. As Exhibitedbrute did, I ground off the Heng Long single door and replaced it with flat plasticard. I had considered making the doors functional, but there is no need as the upper hull engine door opens for access to switches etc. I also ground off the idler mounts and installed Mato adjustable versions. The doors are trimmed with a brass cover strip, brass bolt heads, a metal door handle and plastic hinges from an old PzIII upper hull.
The side protection plates were going to be easily broken off so I salvaged some brackets to support them at the top. You may recall that the functional exhaust outlets that came with the M4 were both right-sided, and they needed to be relocated upwards. I rebuilt them as a left and right sided pair, and moved them so that only the tails will show when the upper hull is on.
I wasn’t sure about the towing hitch provided by Heng Long, but looking at old photos it seems to be authentic enough.
Along side this work I was detailing my 3D printed air cleaners. I bought some cheap dangly ear rings to provide the ring-ended bolts and the rest is plasticard trim. The struts of the side plate supports get in the way of mounting them correctly, so I cut some recesses into the air cleaners.
With the upper hull in place it looks the part. Even with the recess cut-in, I am not entirely happy with the location of the air cleaners. They are currently held in place with blu-tack, so I will address that when I paint them.
Without delivery of my small hull hatches, I might be moving on to the turret next. I found this photo of a Sherman parking lot - I’m guessing it is at the end of the war in Europe. This M4A1 spec is a handy find as its configuration is where I want to head. It is a small hatch M4A1, with welded hull applique, a travel lock, track extensions, split commander’s hatch and cast-in turret cheek armour.
