RE: GP Eagle 580 (Matt Champan cap 232) 50"
 

LHS owner here outside Austin Tx maidened his GP EMBREE and the gear collapsed 60 ft down the grass runway. Looking at the results inside shows clearly that the gear plywood mount attaches to thin balsa at the sides. He is absolutely furious. I got an EDGE 540T EP with the same design problem on the landing gear, but am glad LHS guy flew his 1st. Will be adding plenty of plywood to the sides of the landing gear mount. Also crushed the fuselage 3 times while gently assembling. Rear elevator servo had almost NO wood to attach to. A little too light I guess, but I am just getting into electric planes. My two cents. Brew

RE: GP Eagle 580 (Matt Champan cap 232) 50"
 

I wanted one of these Caps until I watched a buddy maiden his Edge 540 ( very similiar aircraft ) and the gear collapsed on a "gentle" asphalt runway landing competely destroying the plane.. Here are the pics - terrible damage. I'm going elsewhere because if you strengthen the gear plate the fuse will probably break in two. I can't believe how these things are built. The only way around it is to put in a BIIIIIG battery and never land.

RE: GP Eagle 580 (Matt Champan cap 232) 50"
 

Well I went back and looked at mine that broke, and sure enough it is balsa on the sides there (unlike the firewall that has a layer of both balsa and really THIN ply). Additionally, the THIN ply support that runs between the gear area and the battery tray for strutural support is cut and installed so that the wood grain runs horizontally instead of vertically...what were they thinking?!

RE: GP Eagle 580 (Matt Champan cap 232) 50"
 

I ran up my Cap 580 with: 42-50-800 motor
ThunderPower 30c 4cell 2250mah
E-Flite 60amp Pro ESC
APC 13x6.5e

Max Amp draw is 50 amps.

RE: GP Eagle 580 (Matt Champan cap 232) 50
 

I have the 580 as well, i have fixed my gear 3 times so far! Here is what i did to eliminate the problem. I cut a new 1/8" lite ply piece to go between the 2 formers in place over the stock gear blk. Then i added 1/8" balsa SQ's onto the fuse sides from the firewall back to the 2nd former. NO more landing gear issues!! I need to play with the CG now and also, with a cheap 42-50-800Kv motor and a 3800mah 14.8V batt, i don't have enough pwr to pull out of a torque roll! I am running a 12x8 so im going to switch to a 13x6 and see what happens. Was only getting 525W and 30amp draw Advice? Thoughts?