Thanks for the input; I'm going with mr color tire black for the road wheels and raw sienna mixed with camo brown for the treads. The T 48 pads i'm just using flat black much of which will covered with dust pigments etc.

I've been painting my treads with a dark grey for the rubber pads and a dark grey with a little metallic added for the metal teeth and then misting a brownish 'mud/dirt' colour over the whole thing- it looks reasonably correct to me.

There are a bunch of articles on the US Army Models site that helped me a great deal. And thanks for your input Roy, I've read your article a couple of times and keep coming back to it for help. 

Sherman tracks were made in several varieties.  Some were all metal, some had rubber "shoes", some were composites.  Here's a run down

web.inter.nl.net/.../track_vvss.htm

For the DML 6255 M4A3 BoB kit, you get supplied both the T62 (incorrect for this version) and T48 rubber chevron.  Those had rubber shoes and metal end connectors.

not sure if this is the right thread but what colors are used to paint the tracks on Shermans. I've got  the M4A3 circa  Battle of Bulge. Thinking either flat black or rust type color

Alex and Roy: Thanks guys! I didn't think there were any major differences but I'd heard the radio/wireless antenna were different. I hadn't heard about the footman's loops though. The photos I've been looking at of Shermans in Burma don't show extra bins but they're so laden with extra storage I wasn't able to spot any differences.

Now I know to look for the camo net storage and to replace the antenna mounts with the extras in the kit for the Firefly version (ya gotta love Dragon and all those extra parts they throw in).

Thanks!!!

Externally, the main difference are the antenna mounts.  Some Sherman V units also added extra bins to personalize their tanks.  Often Commonwealth units added six footman's loops on the left front of the turret to store a camo net.  And the .50cal was rarely mounted.  Beyond these (and the swapping of radio equipment), you have the Sherman as it left the Chrysler plant.

The British Mark V was simply the designation that was given to lend-lease M4A4's, I don't believe in the stock version there were any major differences, it was the same tank

HTH