Today's attic find

Today I visited the new owner of a friends old house. My friend had told me of a plane that they had to leave in the attic, as it just wouldn't come out. The new owner was great... said he didn't have any use for it and even got me a ladder.

It appears to be a profile ME109 ?? about 48in wingspan. I did have to remove a wing tip to get it out of the attic. It is in slightly rough shape, especially the flaps and tail feathers.

The best thing... a Fox Combat Special}> on the nose that looks new.

Any ideas on the manufacturer of this? Probably from the 70s as was most of his stuff.

Thanks, Oscar

I believe it may be a Midwest kit, as they put out a short series of 48 inch WS war birds. I believe either Walter Umland or Larry Richards is doing these kits again. May perhaps they wil come on line and clear this up.

This of course begs the question - How did it get IN the attic in one piece?
Pat MacKenzie

> This of course begs the question - How did it get IN the
>attic in one piece?
> Pat MacKenzie

Well, the best I can figure is that the barn/workshop originally didn't have a ceiling at one time. Later when the ceiling was installed, the opening wasn't made quite large enough. Real smart eh! I hated cutting the tip off, but you have to do what you have to do.

Hi Oscar, This is a Midwest ME 109 ca 1968! Best modern power plant would be an OS LA .40 or .46! Provide for and adjustable tank mount and plan on a minimum of 4.5 oz. in case you employ a .46! You'll have a ball flying this thing if yours is as much fun as mine was. Built it in 1975 sold it in 2004. Not enough space in my cellar any more! Beef up the wing fuse. joint with leather filletts or epoxy and Micro Balloons. If you really want to improve the performance of this bird enlarge the horizontal tail surface to be approx 23% of the wing area. You'll loose fidelity points but will improve its flyability 150%! Have a ball!

>Hi Oscar, This is a Midwest ME 109 ca 1968! Best modern
>power plant would be an OS LA .40 or .46! Provide for and
>adjustable tank mount and plan on a minimum of 4.5 oz. in
>case you employ a .46! You'll have a ball flying this thing
>if yours is as much fun as mine was. Built it in 1975 sold
>it in 2004. Not enough space in my cellar any more! Beef up
>the wing fuse. joint with leather filletts or epoxy and
>Micro Balloons. If you really want to improve the
>performance of this bird enlarge the horizontal tail surface
>to be approx 23% of the wing area. You'll loose fidelity
>points but will improve its flyability 150%! Have a ball!

Thanks Pancho, Ty and everyone else,

I haven't flown a large plane in such a long time (15 years or so). I did get out one of the old 1/2a planes a while back and fly it at the shop where I work. Fun, but not as much as the .35 planes I remember.

I'm sure that I am going to strip the covering, replace the tail/flap surfaces, fix that wingtip that someone removed, and possibly make some of the recommended mods as I'm not so much into contest flying...too far to travel.

LAST EDITED ON Aug-09-04 AT 03:25 AM (CDT)
 
Your title " Today's attic find" Should be a regular weekly column
of course it depends on us all having attics. Neat find!

LAST EDITED ON Aug-08-04 AT 11:05 PM (CDT)
 
Hmmmmm...

Idea for a childrens' picture book (bedtime story). The title would be "The Magic Attic". CL flier finds a plane in the attic every morning when he goes up there. Brings it down, the next morning, there'll be a new one. He goes out flying over the weekend, has a two or three crashes. Monday morning, he pops up to the attic to get another plane! Better than ARFs. The planes are all different, too - some are classic designs, some are famous planes from the past, some are modern CLPA stunters.. one day he finds a pair of Nemesises and he gets to fly Combat that weekend..

Agree on the ME-109 Midwest ID. I am building a swap meet one right now (well, maybe this winter). The wing is framed up, and the fuse is together, along with tailfeathers.

This is the kit where the Swastika decal is backwards.

There also is a .15 version. Currell

>Agree on the ME-109 Midwest ID. I am building a swap meet
>one right now (well, maybe this winter). The wing is framed
>up, and the fuse is together, along with tailfeathers.
>
>This is the kit where the Swastika decal is backwards.
>
>There also is a .15 version. Currell

The Finns used a Swastika on their planes (most were Brewster Buff's, near as I can tell) against the Soviets, during WWII. Their Swastika was "reverse rotation", and baby blue, instead of black. The Swastika is often seen in ancient American Indian artifacts. Steve

Not to mention that it is used by Buddhists. There's a building downtown here with a big sign that says "Red Swastika Society".

The Nazis didn't invent it, they misappropriated it.

>The Finns used a Swastika on their planes (most were
>Brewster Buff's, near as I can tell) against the Soviets,
>during WWII. Their Swastika was "reverse rotation", and baby
>blue, instead of black. The Swastika is often seen in
>ancient American Indian artifacts. Steve
>
Steve: All true, of course, but...

1. This reverse Swastika is on a German WW2 model, and is...

2. Obviously, an error on the part of Midwest

Isky: You sound like a Kinder, Gentler Steven King. Currell

Olbooler: These Midwest Warbirds built heavy, so, when you are restoring it, see what you can do to keep the wt down. Like use medium silkspan, do some sanding of the fuse, tailfeathers, select ultralite wheels, etc.

Yes, a 40 or 46 is manly enough to haul one of these beasts around, but remember that 1000s were flown with plain old Fox and McCoy 35s. And you can go to a loop scavenged older motor such as these above if the wt is not excessive. An OS 35 FP would work nicely, too, also an OS 35-S.

>Isky: You sound like a Kinder, Gentler Steven King. Currell

I forgot to mention the part in the book about e-bay..

>Hmmmmm...
>
>Idea for a childrens' picture book (bedtime story). The
>title would be "The Magic Attic". CL flier finds a plane in
>the attic every morning when he goes up there. Brings it
>down, the next morning, there'll be a new one. He goes out
>flying over the weekend, has a two or three crashes. Monday
>morning, he pops up to the attic to get another plane!
>Better than ARFs. The planes are all different, too - some
>are classic designs, some are famous planes from the past,
>some are modern CLPA stunters.. one day he finds a pair of
>Nemesises and he gets to fly Combat that weekend..
>
>

If it were only that easy...

The other good thing related to this is my friend was selling his father's other items that he did get out of the attic.

(3) Fox 35 Stunt
(1) Fox 19 Stunt
(1) Cox Medallion 15

All new... $20 ea.

(2) Webra 40 R/C
(1) Enya 40 R/C
(1) Fox Eagle 60 C/L

Again, all new... $30 ea.

I couldn't resist, I bought them all!

He also has a bunch of R/C boat stuff and a monster box of props, glow plugs, hardware, etc.. I'm working on him for those props, etc.