Hi folks quick question. Can you alter a standard M4 Sherman to look like a Sherman Firefly. I have a 25pdr gun and wondered if it could be converted onto a Sherman.
Scott

You'd probably get better replies if this was posted in the armour/afv section, but i'll try help.

The Firefly has some noticable differences from the m4, for instance, the front hatches on the hull stuck out over the slanted front on the firefly, where as the front hull on an M4 didn't stick out due to the hatches.
Also, The turret had to be altered to fit the larger gun by moving the radio to a new bustle on the turret rear and by turning the long-recoiling gun on its side. The overhang at the back of the turret was added to give space for the recoiling weapon. The bow machine gun position was removed to increase storage space for the longer shells.



I'm not a shermanaholic, so don't quote me on this, but i don't think it'd be possible without some major scratching.

Don't let that stop you but, throw out historical accuracy and do whatever you want.

Not forgetting that the Firefly had a 17pdr....

If you want to do something with a Sherman and 25pdr, you'd need to go the very long road via building a Sexton, which is a very different beast. Unless you want to run with a what-if of course.

David

Thanks lads for the advice much appreciated.
Scott

Not quite sure what Scott means here. I think he's mixing up his late and early M4 hulls

In fact the Firefly was made on four hull types: The M4A4, which was named the Sherman Vc, The M4 and M4 hybrid hull with cast front which were called the Sherman Ic and Ic hybrid and very late in the war a small number of US M4A3s were converted to Fireflies but never saw combat.

The Differences between a regular M4 and a Firefly based on the M4 were the turret, which had a 17pdr gun and a radio box added as stated above.
The hull machine gun was removed and plated over as this area of the interior was used to stow ammo for the 17pdr. There was also a stowage box added to the rear upper hull.

there's a terrific book on the M4 Sherman Ic Firelfy by Rossagraph (It's even better if you speak Polish)

Here's a review on Armorama by Pavel Krupowicz

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/523

I apologise for any confusion i've caused, As i said, i'm not a shermanaholic, and i was only going off some reference images i saw of a firefly Vc.

Sorry again.