Good morning Spiros, John, will try to get more time in to finish this project.
Hi Erik, yes Dragon tends to supply some nice separate bits instead of moulded onto upper hull like the list hooks, shackles and grab handles. Also the details on the parts are well defined as well.

Mufflers and the boxes do look great, Chuck @uscusn
Especially the rust effect. Those nicely detailed tiny parts are indeed a nightmare if you drop them. Unfortunately I do have experience with that.

Indeed it is looking great, my friend @uscusn!

Loved reading through this build, Chuck @uscusn, getting nearer to the finish. Happy Chinese new year, the year of the rabbit indeed.

Chuck @uscusn

This is looking REALLY nice ! You have the hull almost wrapped up now. I had to go back and read it again so I could take a close look at your progress.

I like how you painted the mufflers. Here's another bit of Tanker information, that was passed on to me from my dear old Dad who served in these (and Sherman's) in Korea.

He said the heat shields that covered the mufflers were an absolute necessity, especially if you were driving the tank at night time. They served several purposes. First was to keep the Infantry from getting burned if / when they rode on the rear deck as they often did in Korea.

But Dad was mostly concerned about how these shields kept down the visible glow of the hot mufflers at night time. He said the mufflers would get red hot, if you ran the tank under 3/4 to full power for any length of time. He told me that when climbing hills, you had to keep the accelerator to the floor in order to get up to some of the places they fired from. He also said these heat shields could get damaged fairly easily, sometimes even MG fire from a heavy machine gun could damage them enough to make them ineffective.

Then, if it was an exceptionally dark night, (like those without moonlight), the mufflers would be glowing so brightly, they gave away your position... which you didn't want for obvious reasons. This is why he told me how he preferred being in the Infantry, because they "Didn't shoot at you as much !" They always drew fire when he was in the tanks. Mortars, artillery, and occasionally from T-34's or the SU-76, but this wasn't very often for tank on tank.

The best thing he liked about the heat shields was they were often used for heating up the C and K rations... I can attest to doing the same thing in the M-60's and M-1A1's that served in. Only I used an ammo cover from one of the banana boxes on the turret floor, and the heater exhaust (if we were lucky enough to have a working heater that is..) We didn't have exposed mufflers like they did on the M-46.

Another classic case of the Apple not falling too far from the tree. 😉

Dad said that as far as driving up and down the mountains in Korea, he actually liked the older Sherman better. It was better suited to the terrain.

Keep it going buddy. It's looking great and your on the home stretch now.

Looking good, Chuck!

Finally I can start on the turret. Starting with the basics, assembling the upper and lower half.

Next to assemble the barrel, they are in halves, I could not find a metal barrel, so went with the kit parts. The barrels were straight no warpage.

Now to assemble the mantlet.

Dragon provides a choice of mantels, one that allows for the night light or without. The scheme I am building does not have the nightlight installed. But I should've in hindsight used that piece anyway, as I have found photos of USMC tanks with the nightlights removed but the brackets still attached.

Tight fit, in the end one would be careful in elevating or depressing the gun. Which is a good thing, as now I won't have to worry about the barrel sagging while sitting on the shelf.

Other than being a bit of a tight fit. It assembled with no issues.

Installed the finished mantlet to the front of the turret. Fit here is good as well.

The barrel fits into a round with a notch to insert into. A good fit and with that the basic turret is done.

Next up the hatches, brackets and details to attach to the turret.

more to follow.

Nice progress on the turret indeed, Chuck @uscusn