swathdiver:

two minor points that ya got wrong:

Wet-stowage Shermans were as-built, not field-modded, as it would have required gutting the hull, putting in the tanks, then replacing the guts. Only tanks that really got this treatment were the Brit ones that got the 17 pounders (M4's & M10's) They needed the stowage adjusted for the Brit calibre 17 pounder rounds.

The slope of the glacis did not indicate an A3, it indicated early or late hull. Early hulls had those distinctive bulges in front of driver and gunner, and almost always had plates welded over them. They also had small oval hatches that opened to the side that were hard to get out of. Late ones had a steeper glacis slope, no bulges in front for driver or gunner, and the crew hatches were bigger, aligned at a 45 degree angle, and opened at that odd angle (like on the Tamiya)

EugeniRUS:

A great reference, although incomplete, is the MMIR Guide to the Sherman. I think it can still be bought from Kalmbach. Tthe other is the Sherman 'Bible', Hunnicutt's Sherman, which came back out in a very limited run reprint, but I heard no reports on corrections/improvements/quality. Other good backups are the Squadron-Signal Sherman books (At War & Walkaround's) and others.