I've got the old Revell Sherman kit called "Black Magic". It is labeled as 1/40 scale, but is probably closer to 1/35 or 1/36. Any way, this kit is an odd mishmash of Sherman variants, does anyone know if the actual tank existed and if so, are there any photos of it?

It was a cast hulled M4A1 with HVSS suspension and had a 75mm turret and gun.

Hi Robin...Well I don't think anything like that was ever used during WWII . At least I have never seen any pictures to confirm it.

Rick

I've often wondered the same thing. A neighbor gave me one of them in the mid '80's before I knew anything about U.S. Tanks. I've never seen anything exactly like the one reproduced in the kit. But it does have quite a mishmash of systems on it. Good question.

As far as I know, the M4A1E8 was only used stateside as a training vehicle. Maybe it served overseas, but not in combat, that I know of.

If you have the Ampersand Publishing book on the Sherman, it talks about it in there.

I know the "normal" M4A1E8 with the 76mm turret and main gun existed. Not too worried about the combat usage.

I have seen photos of the "Black Magic" in the background of some of Toadman's photos (Littlefield Collection?). That looks like a regular M4A1 75mm with VVSS and not the HVSS depicted in the kit.

Actually, does a 75mm turreted HVSS Sherman exist?

Actually I think it is an M4 HVSS, the hull being the "composite" type with a cast front. None were ever made at a factory, and the M4 was one of the first to be obsoleted after the war so none were ever converted to HVSS either.

If you want to scale it, the real turret diameter at the base was 80 inches, the road wheels were 20-1/2 inches OD, and the hull should be 103 inches wide at the back and 104 inches (or so) wide at the front.

KL

Hi Rob,


I have seen some photos on ML of some M4A3 75mm HVSS shermans. Just I never saved them sorry.

Hans Halberstadt's 'Inside the great tanks' features the Littlefield 'Black Magic' on the cover and that particular one is an M4A1 with an early hull and VVSS.

The Revell version featured in a book in the early 70s (IIRC) called US Armor Cavalry in a notorious photograph captioned as an action photograph. Shame on you Profile Publications !