Is This The WORST Sherman Kit EVER? Revell 1/35 M4 Sherman Black Magic Review 

The mold making tech in 1955 was not very advanced by todays's standards but there was also less resource material for the mold makers to work from. Also we have to remember that buyers were not so discriminating. They had been making them out of wood before these kits came out.

Yep. It is a 1950s kit where accuracy and detail did not matter. To a kid back then build it up, add some paint and proudly display it in your room. That is all the kit was intended for. Today a pro-modeler would probably turn it into a vert nice build. I built a lot of inaccurate and low detailed kits in the 50s and 60s.

Model kits from that time were meant for kids to build not for adult historians to pick over. Give it a 10 year old with a tube of glue and let him have at it.

Its a 1950s kit which was a time when the kits were made for kids to build. My 1960 Hornby Dublo trains lack detail but are alot better pulling than my 2000 plastic models

I was ten years old when this kit came out and me and my buddies didn't care if it was a hybrid/experimental version of a Sherman tank. It was a SHERMAN TANK in plastic with great box art and some really cool combat posed figures.

built one when I was 10 - 1957... I found it a bit challenging at the time but thought it looked cool...

I just built this kit. I bought it because it was the cheapest tank kit on eBay. I wanted a guinea pig to try some different techniques on rather than start hacking on a Dragon kit. Then I realized it was like a Composite hull, which was on my to do list. The scrap throwaway kit took on a life of its own and consumed e. I put way more time and money than a sane person should. The kit is supposed to be a mutated merging of a M4A1 cast hull Sherman and a M4A3 Sherman with HVSS. I used parts from my spares box and some aftermarket parts to covert mine to a M4 Composite hull Sherman. Wish I could post pics here cause I think you'd get a laugh out of what I did. I call it the lipsticked pig. I had a Dragon 1/35 M4A2 upper hull and it fit the Revell lower hull perfectly. I also used a 1/35 AFV club front transmission cover and it fit perfectly. That big long flat thing right behind the turret that was the air intake cover used on the M4 Composite and the M4A1. The engine deck is modeled on the M4A3. M4A2 had two opening panels but the openings are smaller. The rear hull is modeled on the M4A3. I cut the rear hull off and scratch built the rear hull, the door, and the air cleaners. If you decide to put correct tracks on, you may have to get the long hull tracks like used on a M4A4. If your gonna keep it as a HVSS suspension your kit tracks are sorta like the T66 tracks. Wong but closer than what came in my kit. If your going to convert the kit to a composite hull like I did the tools can be on the back or top rear, just depends on when it was produced. there are handles on the rear corners of the engine cover. Which way the handles are mounted determine if its a early or late build. Your reference pics were of a M4A1, not a M4 Composite. You can have HVSS 75mm but very few were made (254 by Fisher body?). The 76mm Sherman used a different turret. The turret in the kit is a low bustle turret. The hull is a later large hatch model. There were low bustle turrets made with large hatch hulls. The underside of the turret bustle was ground down a bit to clear the hull hatches. You also need to watch where the gun mantlet sits in the turret, there is a gap in the front where you can look into the hull.

This looks like it was a toy with an electric motor. It's construction was simple and play orientated rather than for display.

Build as a lark. It's an inaccurate kit of its time....little more than a toy. A decent paint job and weathering can cure many sins. I'd use the figures to help the final display. Bill

It is an old "Life Like" or "Adams" kit repoped under the Revell Flag

My brother had/built this kit in around 1969, I thought it was cool because the suspension worked, which was quite rare for a tank kit. The scale was 1/40. Then around 1977 I bought one, still had the working suspension and silver colored tracks. Back then, I could put out a kit in one day, didn't paint them that often, if I did it was rush painted on, but I would dry brush flat tan on them for mud effect. I still have a few of my late 70's Tamiya kits I put together, unlike the end that came to quite a few kits, being shot up with a BB rifle or a black cat firecracker....LOL. Ah, those were the days.

The problem is you get people comparing an old kit like this with a new kit, made with advances in technology, then seem surprised and complain that it’s not as good. As for it being a pile of bits, that’s what the models of that era were like. For most people it looked like a Sherman. What’s wrong as Matt from Model Minutes pointed out, is if companies try to pass off an old kit as a new one and charge too much for it.

When your wife says "Honey I think this is spoiled can you taste it?"

Thanks for the video. I have an orginal issue S kit dated 1955 on the box. No scale is listed on the box. It also came with 6 figures. Revell's previous armor kits were ex Adams kits which were 1/40. When this was designed they decided to up the size to 1/35 (some say 1/36). Building it as a kid I was fun. Orginal price printed on the box is 1.49.

You paint it in a "panzer " scheme as seen in every cheesy 1970s WW2 movie

Good detail for the age! We are at the stage, and have been for a while, that there is no point comparing old tool kits to anything created in the last 20 years (or more!).

I think you can make a sherman out of this! You mentioned weathering but consider adding foliage, tarps, sandbags etc.... add a little hacking and sanding, give it a shake and see what falls out 😉.

i just bought a guys collation with 28 of these. there were over 250 total kits from ww2 tanks, ships and planes. those kits had hobby lobby sell tags on there for $7.49 each. i only paid $100 for all 250 kits.

I actually built that kit and I liked it very much. Thanx for sharing.

It's a hodgepodge of various Sherman variants that would never have existed together in real life, unless cobbled together from salvaged Sherman tanks. I call it "The Junkyard Sherman."

It's a frankentank. The hull is made from three different types of Sherman. The back from right behind the turret is from an M4A3, which would have had either a diesel or petrol engine in it, hence the grates for cooling. The tools are also in the right places for an M4A3. The front half is from an M4 or an M4a1, and the hatches are from an M4A4.

A couple of decades ago I bought the kit at an International Kit Collectors Show & Expo In California. The scale was marked as 1/40 on the box. This proved to be wrong as the hull, turret, and figures were larger than those of the Revell's 1/40 Russian T-34 and the Sherman tank kit was a giant next to the 2 1/2 ton Truck kit which was 1/40 scale. Being 66 years of age, I had found in my experience of 50 + or - years of building model kits that Revell did not always get the scale right in their armor kits. This might be because while a model is being planned and molds cut, the instructions and box art is also being planned as well as the box size. So if something changes in either parallel manufacturing process the other cannot make changes readily as they are not done in the same facility or even in the same company. And how important would such a change in the model be to a young boy who'll throw it together and destroy it in a day or two by grinding it into the ground to defeat his German toy soldiers. As to the accuracy of the Sherman kit that would be from where they got their source of information. Back then was more often than not by photographs. So was the source one of the multitude of war monuments or concrete filled and covered composite Shermans. Or could the photographs (the photographer would try to get all sides if possible) be from an example of a composite Sherman from abroad such as Israel. Their first tanks were stolen, bought off the black market (was possible after WW2 when the tanks were ran into the sea), or salvaged wrecks cobbled together. An example of this is the Revell Russian T-34 in 1/40 scale. Some years ago someone posted on the net an article from Fine Scale Modeler Magazine. The article was of their (I know I'm going to bastardize the main title due exact memory of it) 'Model in history' or 'Models of the past' which was the story of where the source photograph of source T-34 was taken. Through an interview with the photographer the author of the article learned the photographer was in Israel at a military tank park to photograph one tank there when he saw the T-34 and sneaked a picture of it while his escort was turned away. At the top of the article was the picture taken of the captured T-34. And the kit is very accurate at 3/4 left view at standing position that includes the machine shield and that odd drivers hatch that are or were on the tank. The article didn't say what the other tank was the photographer was going to take pictures of but it could have the source Information on the Sherman tank as the U.S. army and Marines were not very cooperative at that point in the Cold War. Nor were the builders of WW2 vehicles due to the fear of communist spies or being of being lax in National Security.

Seen a video awhile ago, modeler built this kit and dressed it up pretty good and displayed it in a NORMANDY HEDGEROW DIORAMA, I GAVE IT A LIKE… No matter what, if you’re building something, you’re doing something… MODEL ON…………….. CHRIS from OHIO 🇺🇸

It's an M4 Composite Hull. The basic hull is pretty sound but naturally it requires a lot of work. The basic turret is also quite good, and you can use it with the basic hull. The E8 running gear is unlikely, however it's not impossible as a test bed. But if you wanted to replace them with something else go ahead and add other tracks to suit. One thing I like on this hull is the turret ring.

It's kind of cool in a retro kind of way. I can see if I want to introduce a young kid to modeling, this might be the kit I'd buy for. BTW, my first model kit was Nitto 1/76 scale King Tiger Porsche

Built it 1968/9 didn't care about anything about accuracy just wanted to run over my german army toys. Now that I'm older and bought everything about wwii I used to have comics about a Stuart tank called the haunted tank. In that comic the Sherman's aren't to far off from the look of that kit? Funny anyway fantastic video. God bless.

I have this kit in my stash. Found it on clearance for $7.49 several months ago at a big chain hobby store. Sounds like that may have been $7.49 too much, but... I like buying cheap/clearance kits for experimenting - trying out a weathering technique, etc. At least, that's the goal, but then I end up putting so much time and effort into gap-filling and sanding that I hate to ruin it and it becomes a display piece.

There's original footage on old ww2 BW war pathe channel of black magic

How about the Nitto/Blue/ Tank/Revell Sdkfz 251 half-track? It came out in the late 60's as well. The interesting thing the entire lower hull and fenders are one piece. Long before complex slide molding was even imagined.

Texture the hull, put a bigger gun on it, some aftermarket tracks, call it a different unit, weather the crap out of it and there ya go. The average joe will never know the difference.

If you really wanted to to turn this kit into a joke, add a 76mm main gun to the turret, add the side armor plates from a mid- production M4A3, and a hedgerow cutter to the front of the tank. In the immortal words of "The Simpsons" Comic Book Guy, "Worst...Sherman...Model...Kit... Ever."

This is the old Aurora kit with the photo-view (sp?) feature, minus the magnifying glass and film clip

70 years ago not bad for the time

Use the parts/entire for some destroyed diorama, vignette tank .. at least . Have fun xD

from the days when kits were meant to be played with and more akin to toys rather than representations of the real thing. it's not really good form for a model such as this not to have an indication of its age/provenance. but it's not the only example! interesting build i'd expect

I thought it was some vintage kit but it's normally available online and is MORE EXPENSIVE than some great modern models.

I remember building one of these when I was about 10 yrs old, and being very happy with it. Yes it was a toy and I think there was a motorized version of it. I would like to see one.

I'm guessing they didn't have RU-vid to compare it to originally. But seriously, if its not a good kit for a historically accurate model. I don't know enough about tanks to know better, but seeing this would make a choice for a 'fantasy situation' build like a apocalypse diorama. Thank you.

Mr. Peabody disagrees with you when it comes to Sherman. I think I had this kit when I was maybe 10 or 11 y/o. And I can tell you, any kid including myself wouldn't have cared as much as us more experienced modelers. My 9 y/o would love it, I know I might have too.

Not bad for a first starter kit. The tracks have always been a bear. A bit tight and could break the front or rear wheels/sprocket pins when putting on.

They seem to like re releasing inaccurate stuff do Revell. I built their Mig 3 a few years ago and that was very inaccurate. At the moment I'm building a 1/144 SU 27 flanker and that is inaccurate as well but I've managed to make it look better and to be fair, I'm enjoying it. These inaccurate kits can be enjoyable because there is no pressure to be accurate.

I got this kit a few years ago. Built it out. And the tracks were the wrong tracks. To narrow for the wheels. And too long.

Worst M-4 Sherman kit? He hasn't built Atlantis' repop of Aurora's 1/48 Sherman kit. That one is truly abysmal.

I cant wait Doc ans as soon as get some supplys like glue and paints I will start on my cars and trucks. All my supplies were stolen so I have to rebiuld what I had.

I would turn this into an early Israeli M4, composed out of all the pieces they could get and obtained before they properly started "modding" tanks for their specific needs.

The driver/assistant hatches are also from a "big hatch" M4A1 hull. Those hatches should be smaller, oval and running north and south to the tank. There was an M4A1E8 proper tank with the 76mm gun and T23 turret, not a retrofit. I think they only served in Korea. It did have the side fenders or "running boards" as you call them. Build that sucker!

I just had a model of the King George arrive ... Forgot to check the scale ... Looks like it'll make a nice bath toy . Maybe I'll try this one out to round it out 🤣🤣🤣

It was a cast hulled M4A1 with HVSS suspension and had a 75mm turret and gun. They did make an m4a1 on the easy 8 m4a3 lower Hull look it up it was a real sherman! JUST just being a 50s kit refrances were not important the cold War was just starting and they probably didn't have a sherman to look at maybe only blown apart one's and they used 2 ring half's together or something but with no tv or RU-vid lol it's a classic really a firt kit! It's got the British steel cleat tracks with it I see lol it's good for the 50s

That hvss suspension stood out immediately 😂 def not on the m4a1 75mm m3 gun

I wonder who was selling that for $34. I've seen books especially listed at outrageous prices. I guess some people figure It'll sell sooner or later, so they list it at an outrageous price and just wait to see if it sells.

Kids bought these to build and play tanks with on the floor. There was little thought to accuracy in the scheme of things. All about imagination.

Wow, even a non-expert like me could spot: a cast hull with HVSS? Edit: OK, some were retro-fitted? OK, I did say I wasn't an expert.

Definitely the worst Sherman kit out there.

Just enjoy it for the hot mess it is. Build it out of the box, paint and, weather to your liking.

The fact that Revell is still cranking the handle on a '50s mould is pretty shameful, really, especially when there's a plethora of modern takes that are not too expensive and for most modelling levels. But at least you got a sub, I need to see how this works out!

You can see from the figure enclosed with the kit that it is meant to be a toy to be played with. Have you seen some of the Ali Express train sets???? They are just toys not serious models

with a dremal and putty all things are possible, maybe it came through a parallel universe and for all we know it's very accurate, even now anything that says revell I steer away from but don't get me wrong there are some nice ones besides it's a win for the company because you still bought it

Wow you're only about 2 minutes in and this kid was a legend when I was a kid As being screwed up

More a toy than a real scale model kit. Maybe worth building? Good luck. Bill

I built that kit when I was 7. Found it to be very enjoyable. My peers gave it reviews like "killer-diller!", "rad", and in the words of one gentlemen, who's name escapes me now,, Psychadelic, MAN!" (we ere 7 and 8, what do ya want?) Even at that time, we knew it to be a beat up mold, as it had plenty of flash. We didn't CARE. On top of that, it was MUCH cheaper than the then new Monogram Sherman, and,.. what the hell is a Tamiya? (btw- look on earlier boxes.... it used to never say 1/35th scale.... then again, the new box refrains from the word "authentic"... Here is the thing- this wasn't a review, it was a criticism. You applied today's standards to an ANCIENT, worn out model. You was even critical of the wear and tear on a 7 year old box.

Is this an easy 8

bloody hell its a kit build it and have fun blimey if your a modeller enjoy the mistakes

It's not 1/35. It's 1/40.

Revell models allways sucked. Why would this one be better. ITS JUST JUNK

It is a OLD RENWAL kit

All Sherman tanks came with the fenders (what you call "running boards"). They were almost universally torn off and scrapped by maintenance or crews as they caused mud & debris to build up and jam the running gear. As for the suspension, it was extremely rare to find HVSS suspension on anything other than a M4A3E8, aka, the "Easy 8". You can get this kit for @ $5-$15 at shows or through secondhand dealers.