Adrian Barrell

Nice! M4A4, presumably ex-range looking at the turret. M4A4T? Do you know what engine it has?

Of interest is the grouser welded to the drivers applique plate to hang some extra track from.

For interest, here is a pic I took of it in 1997 when it was still outside with everything else except the aircraft and a few newer items.

I've just checked with them, they're not really wanting to export but would exchange with an item they sell and are looking for. However, they want two $200 items for every can....... I think I'll look closer to home!

That's the one! I've looked at that site before too.....

That is the drawing number for the cast plate, the M4A4 glacis plate being made of 3 castings and 2 rolled plates. The LO2569 is the heat treatment applied to the casting. The serial number is only found on the towing lugs and under the data plate on the sponson next to the driver. Do not look on the front towing eyes as this tank has had a single piece front fitted which is not correct as original fitment for an M4A4. The rear towing eyes are the easiest and best place to look. The number is stamped on the top face, usually in the style of 2 rather than 23456 3 4 5 6 Regards, Adrian

Kuno, I wish! I know everything about nothing..... If you could find the hull number, stamped on the towing lugs, I could give you a month and year of build. As to when it was modified, who knows. It's a lateish hull so the number will be 5 figures, something like 2XXXX. Hope this helps.

Good idea, I'd have some. I can do the same but they are quite involved, heavy material and a deep pressing.

The .50 cal boxes that go there are the 'box, ammunition, M17' and not the 100 rd. box that goes on the mount. The square 50 rd box goes on the mount and I think the 100 rd boxes were just used to store .50 cal ammo to be dispensed into the 50 rd boxes as needed. A standard Sherman has some of each too. Mine has 6 of the 50 rd and 3 of the M17 type. I have one of the 50 rd type, very hard to find!

Pistol ports went through a lot of changes in the production life of Sherman. For a while in 1943 they were deleted altogether, Grizzlies not having one as they were built at that time. Existing turrets sometimes had it welded shut complete with its hinge and sometimes the door was just trimmed and welded in the opening. Sometimes, as in this case, a plate was welded in the opening. Correct for wartime, just an indication of when it was built.

No need, it is clearly an M4A4 converted to GM twin diesels. The giveaways are the little square plate welded on the rear end of the turret splash ring, only fitted to Chrysler built tanks,the bogie spacing which on an M4A4 is 1.6M, other Shermans having 1.45M centres giving a noticeable gap between the roadwheels. It also has the air deflector hinges on lower rear plate which is only fitted to M4A4 as well a a host of smaller details. It has been modified to twin diesels and this can be seen by the layout of the fuel and oil filler pipes as well as the fuel tank cover plates. It looks like you can just see the exhaust casting as well which will be fitted above the cut down rear doors.

It is the type with the diamond shaped dividers mounted on rods. The bin has a gap in the front face to allow for brake adjustment, not a modification, it was made like that. There is also a cut out in the inner side, the armour plated side, to allow for the gearbox oil filler. This is why a 15 round box only holds 14 rounds! As for the catches, there is at least 5 on the inside bins, I still have to check on the bin behind the driver, it has 3 I think.

M14 x 1.25 which is known as, not surprisingly, metric spark plug. Standard M14 coarse is 2mm pitch.

Freeman......you're right, I should read more carefully! I reckon you've cracked it.

DEF Armaments I think, however, that was a bit later, nearer the late 80's, early 90's? Probably the most likely explanation though. Preston would know.

They could have been US halftracks, given that most films by that time used them to play Germans, many people would think they were German. A friend of mine bought his M14 from a contractor in Norfolk in about 1980 after I saw several doing sea defence work on the beach. They had quite a fleet and one left completely unmodified as they bought it.

Maurice, at the moment I am only making the ammo bins starting with the front one. I have quite good patterns for these. I have also found the correct catch for these and the rear and turret bins. I have ordered 30, do you still need any? Adrian

Yes, they do have the complete vehicle, Sherman Vc, we are making internals for that at the moment too. The Wheatcroft collection is a private collection and many aquisitions take years of patient work and long winded deals to bring off. Keeping things under your hat becomes the norm. I don't think there is any secrecy as such. The collection is also not in any way set up to allow visitors. This is as much from a practical side as any other. If there is something specific you wish to know or see, I'm happy to ask for you. I wouldn't post pics of anything without permission myself, it's a matter of courtesy.

Forget that, I'm talking out of my a**e....:red: However, closer inspection of your chart and the stowage lists shows that it reads 15 X 2" Smoke Bombs. I would guess the layout is 3x5 looking at the sketch.

Maurice, it's not 5 smoke bombs but box no.5, smoke bombs which according to the stowage sketch holds 15 bombs. I'll see if I have any patterns here, I'm making Firefly stowage at the moment. The grenade box may be a half size version of the standard box for 6 grenades.

It was an M4A4 coverted to M4A2 engine wise. That was not uncommon, there were examples of that in Egypt and a similar vehicle has recently been imported into the UK from Israel, though in much better condition. I also think it has been on a range.

I'll stick them back up!

Alastair, it started before then really. The Budge Collection recovered a few items in the late 80's and this started a trend. There had always been the odd recovery prior to that but since then, many museums and collections have increased their stock from the ranges. Some rare types have been found this way too. There is not much left now though. Once Chieftain was available in numbers for hard targets, much of the older stuff was cleared, often for scrap.

Hi Hanno, yes, I know of that Ram, it's actually visible on Google Earth.

The fourth on the top and the fifth on the bottom rows are Priest, all the rest are Sexton.