Sherman kitbash
Buy 4, get 1 free

My Eduard M4A3(76)W profipack came with an extra M4 small hatch upper hull and backplate. I wanted to see if I could make an extra Sherman with these parts. Of course, to do this I needed an extra turret and Bogeys/wheels/tracks.
Luckily, the Trumpeter M4A3(76)W comes with an extra turret/cannon option and a quickbuild option for bogey/wheel-assembly. Unfortunately however, the M4 small hatch type Sherman was never equipped with a 76mm gun turret, so the Trumpeter turret is useless...or is it?
The ESCI/Italeri M4A1 comes with a 75mm turret, but has a large hatch hull and this type of tank was rarely, if ever, equipped with a 75mm turret. So, if we swap the turrets, we're back in business. The Italeri Sherman also comes with a choice of rubber band/link and lenght tracks.
So apart from some minor details, all main parts for the extra Sherman are now accounted for. Most of those small details will come from my Dragon Firefly kit as they are not used in that. I'll also scratch some of the more straight forward parts that are not found as spare parts.

So with these 4 kits, you'll get all the parts to build an extra 5th Sherman:

- Eduard M4A3(76)W profipack: upper M4 hull, differential cover and backplate;
- Trumpeter M4A3(76)W: Turret (spare for Italeri kit) and bogey/wheel assembly;
- Italeri M4A1: turret (use spare from Trumpeter kit) and tracks;
- Dragon Vc Firefly: bits and pieces;

Aside from these parts, some scratchwork is needed:

- for the extra M4 you'll need a lower hull, final drive covers and Idler attachment plates;
- on the Italeri turret, the loader's hatch needs to be removed, as this was not featured on M4 type Sherman tanks;
- the Trumpeter kit includes two turrets and cannons, but only 1 cupola hatch and gun shield, so you'll need to scratch an extra cupola hatch and gun shield for the second turret. I used an easy shortcut for the gun shield in getting Revell's Department X to send me a spare from their Sherman kit. As this is the only part used from their otherwise crappy Sherman kit and it could also have been scratched, I did not mention this kit as needed for the project, but hereby an honourable mention to Revell.

Since starting this kitbash/scratch project, I've acquired other Sherman kits that could have been more useful than the Dragon Vc Firefly, like the Heller M4A2 and the Dragon M4A1 Normandy which both come with 2 sets of tracks, but as I had already started this project, I will not use those.

Disclaimer for those who wish to try the same kitbash/scratch project: I do not know if the extra M4 hull and backplate are provided in every Eduard Profipack box. It might have been a lucky mistake as they are not shown in any pictures of this kit on the internet.