AGO C.IV

Czech Master Resin, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

CMR's 1/72 scale AGO C.IV is available online from Squadron.com

I had some trouble finding out much about the AGO C.IV. However I did find that AGO stands for Aerowerke Gustav Otto, and originated form the Otto Company of Munich. It was perhaps unusual for an aircraft company of the time to have a female director, one Frau Wörner.

It seems that the C IV was a departure from earlier twin boomed pusher types the company tended to build. The prototype was well received and it was intended to purchase 358 AGO C.IV’s, but in the end 224 were made with only 188 being sent to units. Apparently it was a rather unstable aircraft, and several fatal crashes occurred early in its career. Further problems with wing and fuselage structural integrity only added to its bad reputation. Suffice to say it was disliked by aircrews, and many were scrapped or used as instructional airframes.

It is an unusual WW1 aircraft in that both wings have significant taper on the leading and trailing edges, and each wing has two outboard but only one inboard main-plane strut.

This is a re-issue of an earlier CMR release, but this time provided with decals and packaged in a typical Czech end-opening box with attractive box art. The parts and decals are in heat sealed plastic bags, which in turn are sealed in a further bag with the instructions and colour scheme diagrams. Clear instructions consist of one A4 page, plus a page of 1/72 plans providing the rigging diagram and indicating the slight wing stagger required.

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There is no parts map, but then none is needed. A further three pages covering colour schemes are supplied. These include two German and one British scheme. Constructional illustrations are very clear and easy to follow.  All written instructions and colour call outs are in English.

The parts breakdown is completely conventional for a medium sized biplane. Casting blocks will be easily removed, as will the very thin flash that is present in places. The wing struts and the undercarriage are cast in a black resin. This resin obviously has better load-bearing properties than the cream resin used for the remainder of the kit. There is a choice of outer struts, either two individual struts, or an “N” shaped strut.

Detail parts like the engine and gun are nicely done, as is the complex rhino-horn exhaust manifold and guns. Two very fine coolant pipes are provided to between the engine and upper wing mounted radiator. Some may choose to make these from fine wire.

Decals are typical of CMR, being well registered and suggest good opacity.

Based on past experience they should be very good to use; but like most Czech decals they will be quite thin and need to be floated into position, as they tend to adhere extremely well once there is no fluid under them.

This is a nicely executed kit of an interesting subject that should prove fairly straightforward to build, despite its biplane layout. It should be an interesting addition for collectors of WW1 types.

CMR Models are available online from Hannants in the UK,
Red Roo Models in Australia and quality specialist model retailers worldwide.

Text Copyright © 2009 by Mark Davies
This Page Created on 27 January, 2009
Last updated 27 January, 2009

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