Airmo 1/72nd Albatros C.V/16 By Matt Bittner

History

The Albatros C.V was one of the first aircraft designed around an engine. When the 8-cylinder Mercedes D.IV became available, there was a need for an aircraft to use it. Other aircraft that used the D.IV with less success were the Gotha G.II and the LVG C.IV. However, the Albatros C.V had the best history of the types that used the D.IV engine.

The Albatros C.V was well liked by its crew. It ended up being used for long range reconnaisance, where in essence, for the time it was flown, it couldn't be touched. Pilots liked that it could climb as fast as it did, for as high as it could get. It was a very stable platform which was a key for its reconnaissance flights. While the type didn't see a large number being made, it was the best at what it could do at the time.

The Kit

The Airmo Albatros C.V consists of 29 resin parts and a fret of photoetch for other details – this fret containing approx. 80 parts.

Decals consist only of black crosses on white backgrounds, so if you build a later type that had the serial number on the side, you'll have to come up with your own decal numbers.

Unfortunately there are a number of air holes in my kit. Most of these go all the way through the flying surfaces. The worst is in the tail, where the air hole goes all the way through and sits partially on the leading edge. In addition, all of the flying surfaces in my kit are warped. Not a problem though, as warps are easy to straighten out in resin kits.

The smaller parts are better molded, as are the fuselage halves. However, the strength of the kit lies in the photoetch fret, manufactured by Part. The p/e contains a complete cockpit as well as other smaller, detail parts. The cockpit is a fold-up affair with the addition of various smaller parts to represent the different cockpit controls. All in all a very impressive p/e fret.

Conclusion

This is a decent kit. I would prefer if the air holes weren't there, but they're not that difficult to alleviate, especially since they go all the way through. It's far easier to add plastic rod to an 'all-the-way-through' hole than it is trying to putty up those holes. Be that as it may, this is the only kit of the Albatros C.V/16 – Sierra Scale doing a C.V/17 as a vac. I do recommended it, just be prepared for some prep work on some of the various parts.