I have bought Dragon 6462 with the idea to build it as Soviet vehicle but as all A2 from Dragon lack either the curved plate over the mufflers or the latter grills I was thinking of building it with wading kit on.
Now do you have any picture of late A2 in the Pacific? Is this an A2
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H.P.
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I am pretty sure those are a3s judging by those vertical metal bits on the deck.
Thanks for the good will though
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Yes, but that is a earlier tank with direct vision ports. I was looking for late variants.
Do you see in my original picture the engine door rest? I see only some shadows.
Thanks
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Looks like the caption was wrong… 
What about this one ?
H.P.
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If you mean Doris, No. 53, that’s an M4A3 as well. You can just make out the engine door rest, plus the waterproofing over the grilles is the full width of the engine deck, which is only necessary for the M4A3.
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H.P.
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Thanks all of you. I think I’l go with the generic C30 form Tinian from the kit decal sheet on which I’ll add the wading stack base to represent the tank soon after the landing
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I agree A3, David Harper’s Iwo book has a few photos of her. She is part of D Co, 4th Tank Batt. She had wire mesh across rear deck.
For Iwo Jima campaign 4th and 5th Tank Battalion had M4A3s, only 3rd Tank Batt had M4A2s. As I recall this allowed only after the Commandant approved it. The supply chain had changed and after the Marines were not allowed to have A2’s even if that is what they preferred. More details in Ed Oscars books Tank Battles in the Pacific.
Sad that both authors are no longer with us. They had a lot of knowledge on Marine armor which is a complex and complicated subject plus both were modelers.
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I believe that this is an A3 as it has commander’s cupola with vision blocks (if you understand what i am saying), as M4A2 had those split hatches during the war, and were upgraded after the war for occupational duties in Japan.
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