Midwest ME-109 .15 Size Profile

I've built many of the Midwest series warbirds over the years. I had fun with them. I built all but the Skyraider in the 48" series. I have a few kits left aside from the 48" Kingcobra. Larry Richards made reproduction kits of both the .15 & .35 series not too mention many of the Veco kits. Larry's work was the most amazing kits I've ever witnessed in a hand cut kit. He was a master. Larry also restores full scale warbirds as well so he's a very knowledgeable modeler. I never purchased his warbird Midwest series kits and regret it to this day. I've seen his 48" Kingcobra sell for close to $300. His wood selection and accuracy made the old Midwest tanks fly quite well.  Midwest isn't exactly known for lightness. The nice thing about them though was that as a kid, you needed the hard and heavy wood because any mishap resulted in splinters.

      My dad built this .15 size ME-109 like Kim's in the early eighties. This was powered by a Cox Medallion .15. We purchased 4 Cox Medallions from Tower Hobbies in 1983 for $20 a piece. I have one new left and one decided it didn't like it's piston and spit it out.  I fly it once in a while. Not the last plane my dad built but close to it. He went back into r/c and the last of the last was a Banshee I bought for him as a father's day present. Even today 30+ years later, it still looks good. My dad was a neat builder and even this paint job looks great. He's a talented builder and I admire this scheme.

    I will say that one thing that I felt that hindered performance on my 48" version was the rad scoops on the underside of the wing. I felt this caused a lot of drag causing the plane to act differently when looping. I don't recall this issue with the .15 but I removed them on the 48". I sold my 48" ME-109 at a Jersey swap meet a few years ago. Some say that you won't miss them ten minutes afterwards. I disagree, I liked the plane regardless of how it flew. I originally  found it in a trash can one day on my way to work. It was half started, many pieces missing but decals, canopy, flap horn wires, all in the box. Some one gave up and I rescued it only to fly it after being built 12 years later.

          One thing that I tend to agree with that most state is the wings of these models. They're just too thin and they need to fly fast which doesn't equate well with stunt. To most, this is a non issue but I will say some of my most memorable moments of flying is a result of these planes.

             





         I'm waiting to flip it over one day and break the rudder off so I can get rid of that rudder offset. I have no touch up so I'll wait for it to break and repair it straight.


         This was painted with flat Poly-U colors. Poly U wasn't well liked by myself but it worked so so. Thinner was a problem and the underside turned out more shiny due to incorrect thinner. They offered two types of thinner and my dad used the brushing thinner vs the spraying thinner due to running out. This slows the drying time therefore the finish came out like a semi-satin vs a flat like the top. All in all it looks cool.

I don't currently have it as I gave it to a club member but it was the more rare .15 sized P-40. I gave it to a club member who really wanted it due to owning one in the 70's. He made claims that he would fly it. I haven't seen it in nearly 10 years. Mine was covered entirely in Monokote but it looked great.