[Arran]

I found a web page documenting the various Midwest models, perhaps this will help identify what model you are pondering?

http://www.midwestradiomuseum.com/welcome.htm

It's kind of interesting, some of the designs are a bit flashy. My uncle worked on a Midwest chassis for someone once and what he said concurs with what Tom said about the chassis. I think I mentioned in another thread about a Midwest radio-phono combo unit that there were many ways to cut corners on radio construction to keep the price down, apparently the coils and IF transformers were not one of them fortunately. As noted there are also lots of ways to cut corners on the cabinets, but that does not mean they have to be flimsy or crudely built, making the side panels out of cheaper woods like poplar, maple, beech, etc. was a common way to go, I can tell from looking at the front panels that they relied on grain orientation and shading rather then true figuring for the front panels.
In the 1930 and 40s, just like now, there were good manufacturers of capacitors and resistors, and cheap crap makers of the same. Wafer tube sockets were a cost cutting measure, even now wafer sockets are around half the price of molded ones, maybe 1/3 the price of porcelain, but there were different grades of quality even among wafer sockets.
I wouldn't mind getting a Midwest myself, just because I am curious about them from an engineering standpoint. I had heard that they were guilty of tube stuffing their chassis, but then again I have also heard that they didn't. Unlike many I could care less about the pseudo art deco styling, I'm more interested in what's in the back, so I will only get one if the price is right.
Regards
Arran