After looking at some reference pictures it looks to me that the copula is clocked wrong. I just took apart the turret and it looks like the copula is molded in and not a separate piece glued in. Can some one confirm that this assumption is correct?

Not certain what you are exactly referring to on "clocked wrong", by the HL and Tamiya Pershing TC hatches are correct in allignment. Here are a couple photos showing the TC hatch. The open hatch cover should be behind the TC's right shoulder about 10 O'clock looking down with the gun pointing toward you and open about 45 degrees. There are stops that prevent it from opening any farther. Sherman w/ T-23 turret, M-26, M-45 and M-46 have identical TC hatches. Missing on the hatch cover are the 360 degree periscope, head pad and locking handle, which have to be made.

The entire hatch could be "clocked" and you can see photographs where crews moved them for whatever reason. One tank commander preferred the old split gun ring hatch and swapped it with the loader's hatch on his M4A1!

In addition, the center of the hatch which contains the periscope was mounted on ball bearings and could be rotated 360 degrees. Keep this in mind when examining photos.

I've been looking at photos from a Squadron detail book. One of the photos shows one of the copula windows centered on the U shaped gun sight. On the model the space between windows is centered on the gun sight.

Ron, you are absolutely correct. [X(] One of the TC cupola prisms should be facing forward, so that the TC can use that vane sight from inside to initially lay the gun for the gunner. Just looked at my HL M-26 and the cupola is, as you stated, a little off. Rotate the hatch cover forward until the nearest prism faces forward. If you want to be absolutely authentic, there are all metal TC hatches available to replace that molded on cupola...and with holes instead of molded plastic vision block prisms. These can be filled in very nice with Micro-glaze (Micro Mark #80894) to look like glass.

Very sharp eyes. How many of us never even noticed that little detail...and I used to work on them and am in one of ours at least once a month. [:@][&:]

Seems like just an HL issue. My Tamiya looks fine.

Ok I'm not crazy. Thanks for the info .Unfortunately I believe that the copula is molded into the turret and not a separate piece. I'm not sure if I want to take the time to cut it out and reposition it.

You should be able to cut it from the bottom without showing any damage. I believe Tammy Sherman and M-26 both have seperate cupolas that you could use if the molded one is damaged. If not, the metal one is an option.