Looking for Help on Sherman tank hull’s ?

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

        Hello everyone Ive got one tank to finish for my Grandfather’s collection of tanks. Ive talked about him before but the short description is he drove M4’s and M4/105’s across the Pacific island campaign with the 706th Tank battalion. They used the 105 armed M4’s as Assault tanks against fortified structures as well as artillery. I know this is opening a monster  as I know there are so many variations on a theme when it comes to Shermans. I have just purchased an aftermarket metal barrel for an M4/105 (finemolds 1/35).

        I know a couple of kits have been produced, Tamiya and Dragon come to mind. Tamiya’s is an M4a3 with the 105, Dragons is an M4. I need an M4 and the Dragon kit is hard to find when on a tight budget. So Ive bought the A/M barrel in hopes of converting a standard M4 into the 105 sub variant. My questions are which kit would be best ? Are the turret’s the same from the 75mm to the 105mm ? If not what mods would need to be done ? Any info is gratefully received as the only Sherman book I own is the Squadron Signal book. It doesn't seem to even cover the 105 versions so no help to me ? 
       For what its worth the other three kits Ive built are the Tamiya M3 Lee and Takom M3a1 Lee tanks which my grandfather trained in. And Tamiya’s M4 which I backdated to an early model. It has the vertical return rollers seen on M3 and very early M4’s not the later standard type. I also backdated the mantlet cover to the slimmer type. So this will be the last one of his four tanks. 
 

Dennis

[bigfoot]

The M4 105s were only built on the late large hatch M4 hulls (no driver hoods and the 60 degrees glacis plate). The turrets had the oval loaders hatch and the mantlet was different to the 75mm one. You could use the tamiya M4A3 105, the turret would be correct and you could convert the hull rear to the m4 version (front end would be largely correct). 
 

The Sherman minutia website has a lot of info on the M4 105

 

http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/manufacturer/m4_105mm/m4_105mm.html

 

[Kingsman]

There is also the Academy kit, but that's an M4A3E8(105) like the other Dragon kit too and equally hard to find.

 

Tiger Model Designs (TMD) have all of the conversion parts you might need to upgrade or create an M4(105).  But have a word with your bank manager first.........  Paying over the odds for the rare Dragon kit will almost certainly be cheaper.  Yes there are quibbles about some of its details, notably the gun mount shape.

 

There are several turret differences between 75 and 105mm besides the gun mount.  They had the "high" bustle with loader's hatch but did not have the "thick cheek".  Later ones also had an overhang for the commander's cupola and there was an additional rear roof vent with unique MG mount over it.  So turret conversion is not quite as simple as it might seem.

 

The M4(105) was the only large hatch M4 variant built.  There were no large hatch M4 75s or 76s.  So the Dragon kit is the only show in town OOB.  Much of the hull of the M4A3(105) was the same as they were all built side by side by Chrysler.  But the engine deck and upper and lower hull rear were completely different.  Conversion is certainly possible either by cross-kitting parts from an earlier M4 with an M4A3 (very wasteful) or by using conversion parts from the likes of TMD.  Tank Workshop (TWS) also did all the parts you would need for an engine type conversion, but they are now long OOP and rarer than rocking horse teeth.