It’s parts F2 and F3 that Jakko refers to. They are grouser compartment covers. Normally the openings face forward. F1 is the cover for the fire extinguisher handles and faces backward. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get the grouser covers off and flip them around. They could be put on backward in real life, just not often.
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Exactly what he said 
The little lug at the top is a bolt head, unscrewing it removes the whole “scoop” from the tank to give access to the compartment underneath, in which the grousers were stored. The scoops are there on the M4, M4A1 and M4A4 because the fuel tanks, which are in the sponsons ahead of the grouser compartment, tended to overheat. By adding these little air intakes, cold air from outside would be drawn in over and along the fuel tanks (slots were cut in the grouser compartment front wall to allow this) to cool them. The M4A2 and M4A3 didn’t need this, though. The A2 just has plain metal plates over these holes instead, the A3 has no holes in the rear deck at all.
Edit: Here’s what those slots look like on an M4A4:
This is looking towards the right rear corner from inside the engine compartment. The sloping plate at the top is the roof of the sponson. The plate with the slots is actually the upward extension of the lower hull rear, which is why it’s so thick; the air scoop would have been behind that plate from where we’re looking here, but on this tank the hole for it has been plated over, which is why there’s no light coming through.
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They can be bolted on backwards thats for suure. However those are forward facing air intakes and not exhausts.
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That’s what I said, yes: air intakes, for cooling the fuel tanks.
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There are even a few pics with one facing forward and the other facing back!
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Not to mention photos that show them reversed by swapping left and right, and others where they were reversed on the side they’re from — that is to say, sometimes when they’re reversed, the tops are flat (as on @Armor_Buff’s model), other times the “high” side sticks up much more than normal.
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Does anyone have a photo of the M4A3E8 Paper Doll? I am looking into the track type and the turret configuration.
RFM shows it with T84 track and oval loader’s hatch
Star Decals shows it with T84 track and early split hatch turret
I love kit shows it with T66 track and oval hatch turret
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It had a one-piece loader’s hatch, as you can expect for a tank with the hardware for fitting the canvas cover over the mantlet, and both RFM and Star Decals got the tracks wrong: they were T66.
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Many thanks. That hardware is easy to add. I will look into the way the canvas is secured to the turret and how the fittings are shaped so as to build them.
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Note what appear to be gun cleaning rods tucked under the fender braces! And on the rear bogie there is the shipping strap still in place, when it should have been removed before issue. The excuse is “there was a war on”…
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Jakko:
What is going on with that photo? There seems to be strange things happening, particularly with the idler and the front-most roadwheel on the third bogey-truck. These wheels are . . . warped — or not an original part of this image. There are other things going on that indicate an image that has been retouched or fiddled with (the top of the image is cropped, and to me the spacing of the wheels of the second bogey-truck seems “off”).
It looks like this image is perhaps a photo of a photo, perhaps in a image from a photo-album. Would that cause the misshapenness of the wheels? Very odd.
Mark Neukom
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Well spotted As I just found it online by searching for M4A3 Sherman "A Paper Doll", I don’t know for sure either, but I think it is a photo from a photo in a book or album, yes. It certainly seems to be a scan made a long time ago, judging by the dithering (a sign of the scan having been made when computer memory wasn’t as big as today) and the horizontal lines (which could well result from an older scanner).
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When I first located the photo you posted it was on a war thunder forum, the guy had overlayed the person on the in game model of the tank.
That is why I was looking for a photo, I thought this photo was edited or just a digital collage.
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Added cartridges, towing cables and antennas… calling these two done…
Thanks for the nice campagne, good luck to those who are still to finish their builds👍
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They both look fantastic Bert. So much great detailing and lovely finishes on both as well … superb !
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Thanks !
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@bwilt Both look great!!! And the stowage really adds up! 
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Thanks! Glad you as IDF fan like them! Like I said before, this is what the IDF versions could have looked like if they had been modernised like the Shermans.
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