Finally got the turret glued to the basket. Something inside by the gunners station is rubbing on something else and I had to make a few slight adjustments to get it together. PIA.
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Oh and I almost forgot to mention this.
I recently came across a Sherman website that said the M4 105mm tanks didn’t have turret baskets. I’ll have to find it and read it again to make sure but does anyone know for sure??
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They are pretty finely moulded. If you find yourself ordering something from Asuka’s web shop, and intend to build more American tanks from the Second World War, it might be a good idea to add one or two sets 
Page 754 of Son of Sherman (second edition) has a photo of an M4 (105 mm) turret interior looking down from the commander’s hatch. The floor is narrow rectangular lids hinged on the hull side, without a turret basket over them.
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Sorry to bring bad news, but the 105 turret only had a half-floor! The gunner and commander had a semi-circle of floor on the right, but the loader on the left stood directly on the floor-mounted ammo bin lids. There’s a great pic at the Shaddock website - scroll down near the bottom of the page: Chrysler M4(105) and M4A3(105) Shermans
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Thank you Tom, but this is actually good news! That’s a great pic!
I glued the turret basket to the turret and did a test fit inside the hull, and it was not seated level at all, being raised at the rear. I should have cut off more of the bottom of the turret floor from the beginning as it’s rubbing on the drive shaft hosing. Now I can cut it off and rebuild it to fit better. This was very frustrating but in light of this new info and pic I can fix it.
These are the things that have slowed me down on this project. As a kit bash, I’m using parts from many sources. I’ll get there !
Thanks to all for your help !
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There was a lot of moaning back then about the lack of power traverse, but given how the loader had to dance when the turret rotated I guess the slow hand crank was a blessing!
Glad we helped you fix some issues!
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The 105 was never intended for direct engagement so it didn’t need a power traverse.
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Yes thanks a bunch guys!
I read that the hand traverse was difficult but given that the 105 was a support weapon I guess they felt they could go with manual traverse.
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Keep it up, it’s looking great.
Cheers,
Ralph
Thanks Ralph. I had a large, deep hole next to the turret loaders hatch hinge which I had to fill. I ended up cutting it off altogether and sanding it and installing the one from Blast models. Another small set back as I was about to start putting the rest of the turret parts on. So I moved to the hull. Getting there.
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Managed to get some more parts on the turret and hull. Must have broken off each part at least once! Ugh!
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Part 69 is the rest for the engine deck hatch (the grille) that was on all but early M4A3s. Crews quickly discovered that the hatches were so heavy (there is a large, armoured shield on the inside) that they were very difficult to close when they lay flat on the sponson sides, so the rest was added to keep them horizontal and make lifting them easier. Tamiya missed these supports from their M4A3, which is why Blast provides them, but they’re easy enough to make from some plastic card, too.
Very late (1945 production) M4A3s also have torsion bars on these hatches, and those were retrofitted to M4A3s that remained in US service after the war, to make opening and closing the hatches easier in general.
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Oh ok thanks Jakko. Makes perfect sense. I didn’t see it on any M4s like mine so I planned on leaving them off but just didn’t know what they were.
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Other M4-series tanks didn’t need them: the M4, M4A1, M4A4 and M4A6 had engine covers that opened forward (plus back on the M4A6), while the M4A2’s grilles did open sideways, but they were much narrower than on the M4A3 so they simply couldn’t go below the horizontal at all.
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They only had half of the turret basket, the left hand side and half the floor of the basket was removed.
Sorry I can’t give a credit for these photos as they have been on one of my hard drives for many years!
Cheers, Pete M.
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Welcome to the forum, Pete!
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I’ve been a lurker for many years, but this topic was one I had to respond to as I have done a lot of research on the M4 105 Shermans as the Kiwi army had quite a few in Italy.
Ours came through the British supply lines so had the No.19 radio sets and Brit stowage, tool kits and radio fittings/aerials etc.
Pete M.
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