158 MODEL AVIATION
The comprehensive Mears-family pit box
Also included in this column:
• How engines like to start
• CL Combat info on the
Internet
• The Bladder Grabber returns
• Where everybody went
[[email protected]]
Control Line Combat Rich Lopez
Above: This model was custom-built for
Don Cranfill. It features a carbon-fiber
TE and Kevlar wrapping around the ribs.
Right: Bobby and Nick Mears use their pit
system to get Andy Mears’ aircraft into
the air.
Below: Emil Opfer of Minnesota holds a
copy of World Champion Igor Trifanov’s
model.
IN THE MARCH column I wrote about
having an efficient pit box that is laid out
carefully so that all the necessary items are
in immediate reach. This month I have
included a photograph of the other extreme:
a pit setup that has everything including a
Combat pilot’s version of a La-Z-Boy
recliner.
Three generations of Mears family
members have been flying Combat
throughout the country and the world. James
is the patriarch, son Andy is on the 2008
World Championships team as a pilot, and
Bobby, James’s other son, is also on the
World Championships team, as a mechanic.
Nick, James’s grandson, was a US team
member in 2002.
Their experience in competition has
taken them in the direction of going to the
flying field with everything they need for a
match—and items they might need—in a
self-contained rolling pit system.
05sig5.QXD 3/25/08 8:57 AM Page 158
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/05
Page Numbers: 158
