Luftwaffe Jack Stands Sets with Saw Horses

Das Werk, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

Eduard's 1/72 Avia B.534 IV serie Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com

One of the things that are frequently seen on an airfield are aircraft jacks and maintenance saw horses.  Until now the only thing that you could do if you wanted them in your diorama was scratch build them.  Why someone has never thought to produce these accessories before is beyond me.  Thank goodness for Uschi van der Rosten thought this too and decided to do something about it. 

Packaged in a thick cardboard box this standard set contains two sprues of plastic molded in light grey plastic with no flash.  Using the expertise of Peter Hamann in designing CAD, Uschi was able to put together a sprue that includes one large jack, one smaller jack and one saw horse.  The plastic is easy to work with and the parts breakdown is logical.

The instructions are on a single sheet of paper that is ‘weathered’ and easy to understand.  They are written in German but the pictures are plenty to build the parts easily.  There are no instructions for the saw horses but they are pretty self explanatory.  There are no painting instructions.  Painting comes down to you.  Uschi recommends RLM 02 for the jacks but a RAAL Dark Grey is also available and what ground equipment is painted in for the Luftwaffe.

Building the jacks is easy enough and can be done within a couple of hours.  I only had to clean up the parts.  You can adjust the height of the part by simply cutting it and adding part 2 to the top.  You will have to scratchbuild the unique support assemblies for each type of aircraft. Uschi provides online assistance showing these, https://www.uschivdr.com/das-werk/possible-easy-modifications/

These jacks were normally used by fighter aircraft mechanics.  Uschi provides additional references on their website (https://www.uschivdr.com/das-werk/jack-stand-and-saw-horse-references/ ). 

I think painting should be a dark grey typical of Boden vehicles, but you can do what you’d like. I used Tamiya German Grey.  Then a wash of Black artist oils thinned with turpenoid.  Chipping was added next then some Mig Pigments, Dry Mud and Wet Mud, were added to the base.  Some Mig Pigments for Panzer Grey were added along the top of the parts to show fading.  A silver drybrush was added to the twisted portion of the jack. 

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The saw horses were painted in a Tamiya Desert Yellow and burnt umber and burnt sienna artist oils were used to impart a grain pattern on the wood.  This was sealed with Alclad Flat.  Done.  Simple and effective

I enjoyed building these.  They were fun and look great.  Weathering was easy enough.  If you need a break from a complex project or need to add some things to your diorama this is the perfect for you.  The diorama possibilities are really endless. 

The jacks are used for landing gear testing and for gun harmonization.  There are some things that you may want to add that you’ll have to scratch build.  There are a number of suggestions on their website and plenty of references there as well.  The jacks and saw horses were used on fighters, twin engine fighters, and jets like the Me-262 so you can get lots of use out of them. 

A great project from Uschi.

I wonder what else they can come up with?

Highly Recommended

Review Text Copyright © 2018 by Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Page Created 22 February, 2018
Last updated 22 February, 2018

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