Sneetch's Capra Chronicle

[Sneetches]

When Axial teased the Capra, I was elated when it was revealed to be a caged buggy. I'm a fan of the Wraith, like the Bomber cage (though I eschewed owning one since I already had the Wraith), and put a Yeti cage on my Slash. The Capra also ticked some specific boxes for me, mainly the fact that it was narrower than the existing Wraith cage and had a small dig enabled transmission.

First off, why the name Capra? Well Capra is latin for goat and latin words are automatically cooler. Second is the fact that some of you city slickers might not realize that goats will climb literally anything and do not fear death:



Now that we have that out of the way I will go ahead and say that I didn't really take too many build pictures, so if you want mine step by step you'll have to wait until I buy a second Capra. Instead I will just list my build notes by section:

1. Axles
   The axles by themselves are a pretty big deal being Axial's first go at portals. Assembling them is pretty straightforward, and they seem pretty sturdy. There are a couple things I would note though, the main one being the fixed c-hub's lack of any caster adjustment. Second is that the stock servo mount is questionable and you can see it twisting itself under usual crawler loads, so an aluminum one would definitely be nice in the future.
   
   
2. Links
   These are by far the beefiest links Axial has put out and they are very strong in general. The stock rod ends are cross compatible with Revo rod ends and the stock Capra ends are a tiny bit longer than Revos, giving you an additional tuning option (the hollow balls also fit between the two). The hex shape of the rod ends is very racing buggy like along with the hole in the links themselves so they're not very scale friendly.
   
   
3. Shocks
   They remind me of the Wraith shocks but have a bleeder screw now. Two sets of springs included which is nice so you can play around with tuning options there. In stock form I think 97mm is OK but you end up with an absurd amount of flex, so safe to say you can definitely try out some limiters if you wish.
   
   
4. Transmission/Skid
   Another big part of the kit is the new LCG, dig capable transmission. The manual is not very friendly to this part of the build however if you have some experience you will be able to figure it out. In stock form they have you put a plastic spacer in the place of a spring for the slipper assembly and I'm not sure how futureproof this is until several runs later, being that it may end up slipping in a bind when you need the power. The downsides to this trans are the relatively tall gearing and inability to change the spur gear. The skid itself finally gives you adjustable link mounts, which is a win for geometry nerds. it looks like standard AX10/SCX10 transmission should fit, but you will have to drill your own holes, or wait for a Shapeways release.
   
   
5. Cage
   The cage is tiny but feels like it has twice the screws of the Wraith chassis. Once you connect everything it suddenly gets way stronger. The plastics feel good and should hold up to some abuse, however as the case with my Wraith was high speeds and repeated fatigue means you will eventually start replacing different front end parts. The integration of the electronics tray as part of the battery tray with 2 screws is a bit questionable but I think it will be fine for slow crawling.
   
   

So once you have your kit you need electronics to finish it, and here's my current setup:

1. Servo - ProModeler 420oz-in
   An old OG version that I had in the spare bin, so I planned to use it here. I think 420 oz-in is fine in stock form until the stock servo mount gets fixed, then you could probably go higher if you want.
   
   
2. Motor - Holmes Hobbies 2700kv Puller Pro Stubby
   Since the Capra was purported to be more SCX10 sized than Wraith sized, I opted for a stubby since the normal Puller has no problem throwing my Wraith around. I opted for 2700kv because I ran the numbers and this gets me about where I like on 3S, which is around 13 mph. This lets me crawl around with ease but if the opportunity presents itself, rock bouncing and hill climbing is also an option.
   
   
3. ESC - Castle Creations Mamba Micro X
   Since the Capra was smaller I wanted to try this ESC out. It has a small footprint and fits in the electronics tray just fine. The battery leads in stock form are very short but they actually work out fine if you use the electronics tray mount.
   
   
4. Rx - Futaba R614FF-E
   It has no external wire so I wanted to try it out, and needed something that worked with the 4PK.
   
   
5. Dig Servo - Towerpro MG90D
   I had this left over from a plane build and it works fine. I used the plastic servo horn that came with it so I'm not using the servo saver right now.
   

The kit doesn't include tires however there are so many choices here that it'd be a pain to list them all. Any 1.9 choice over 4.6" should work fine.

Anyways, some pics:

Stockest form with softest springs, no preload on the adjusters.


As I mentioned with the stocks shocks you could easily compete for Facebook Friday as a FleXX G0d (as seen with 2.2s as well in the pic)


---
So in my haste after finishing the build I went out and crawled naked, luckily without getting charged for indecent exposure. I went to the comp spot where I can test rigs on the same fixed rock lines for consistency and within the first couple of minutes I knew the Capra was already going to be good. Barring electronics, here was a rig with no immediate modifications out of the box that was pulling lines that I had to build my Wraith and other rigs up in order to make. There are a couple uphill lines to test how planted you are and I guffawed when I drove straight up them first attempt. I also found some nice lines to test out the dig:



----
After two sessions with the Capra my overall impressions were that it was finally proof that a manufacturer could release a rig that just works out of the box, and could actually pull off some nice lines without needing to spend hundreds on upgrades out of the box. The portals are a welcome addition in my opinion, and I don’t see myself taking them off except for a 2nd Capra build for fun. There are only 2 weak points that stand out to me immediately and that's the servo mount and slipper assembly. I found a couple lines where the slipper wanted to hold me back a bit, and required some coercion to get going. The servo mount just flexes too much for my liking, but I get it. Aside from those though I think this is one of the best out of the box crawling rigs you can buy besides the Bully 2, which is just in a whole nother class anyways.

[Still Bill]

Supershafty.com is offering an aluminum servo mount for the Capra. Already ordered one for my build.

[Panther6834]

I'd say there are 3 weak points, as BOTH servo mounts are "weak points".

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[B-MOW71]

Nice write-up and pics!

Looking forward to seeing the non-nude version!

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Sneetches

There are only 2 weak points that stand out to me immediately and that's the servo mount and slipper assembly. I found a couple lines where the slipper wanted to hold me back a bit, and required some coercion to get going. The servo mount just flexes too much for my liking, but I get it. Aside from those though I think this is one of the best out of the box crawling rigs you can buy besides the Bully 2, which is just in a whole nother class anyways.

Theres two servo mounts coming soon so thats covered and one of them is pushing an aluminum slipper eliminator.

I never had a problem with my LCC and its slipper for the 2 seasons I ran that truck, but I also used a spring on it instead of a plastic spacer. I understood the slipper on the LCC but it does puzzle me why they bothered with it on the Capra.

Nice write up though - keep the info coming

[Sneetches]

Originally Posted by Panther6834

I'd say there are 3 weak points, as BOTH servo mounts are "weak points".

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

Well it's kind of like the AR60s in that once you replace the stock servo mount, it's pretty much fixed for the most part unless you're doing some U4 racing or something of that nature.

Originally Posted by Still Bill

Supershafty.com is offering an aluminum servo mount for the Capra. Already ordered one for my build.

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice write-up and pics!

Looking forward to seeing the non-nude version!

Originally Posted by Robbob

Theres two servo mounts coming soon so thats covered and one of them is pushing an aluminum slipper eliminator.

I never had a problem with my LCC and its slipper for the 2 seasons I ran that truck, but I also used a spring on it instead of a plastic spacer. I understood the slipper on the LCC but it does puzzle me why they bothered with it on the Capra.

Nice write up though - keep the info coming

Thanks guys, and yeah I actually ordered the Supershafty one this morning after seeing that. I couldn't get the embedding to work right and Instagram embedding is awful so I just said screw it and put all my cell phone clips into a video which I'll edit into the OP. Then maybe I'll post part 2 tonight since my panels are already painted and mounted.

[Sneetches]

Click this link for the video (embeds are currently broken in this subforum): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBf1V0VHCk0

So anyways, Instagram technically saw it first and my lazy ass didn't get around to posting it, but I painted the panels up. It's Tamiya Gunmetal, backed with Tamiya Silver and then backed with Tamiya White. I also mounted some Dravtech shocks for testing and I didn't have this color scheme planned, but I think I like it. I mounted the Pitbull Rock Beast XLs on some 2.2 Injoras but it turns out Injora switched to the 1.2" wide wheel so I also need to change that up, because the foams slide around too much.






--

So I followed WT's cue and went ahead and tried to get more steering out of the truck. At first it was like "maybe a bit" but since the axle housing is only 10$ I just started trimming away to see how far I could really go. So in order to get further the list was as follows:

1. 26mm servo horn added
2. 2 small bends in the tie rod to clear the pumpkin
3. Trim the stops off the axles
4. Trim the steering arms for clearance against the axle
5. Trim the portal boxes and c-hubs very slight where they begin contacting each other

Now of course with this much steering you have to clearance the universals if you intend to go to full lock and throttle it unless you really want to head to snap city. If you keep it slow it won't be as big of a deal but I would like to see the easiest method for getting the pins out of the yokes. Seems like some sort of modded chain press tool would work nicely, and I just wanted to avoid hammering on them at the moment in case I break a yoke or something dumb.

[Panther6834]

What's your steering angle now, with the mods?

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[B-MOW71]

Wow, that steering! Love it!

Great choice on the color! Always been a fan of the gunmetal!

Lookin' good with Dravtech's and RB XL's! They are both on my build list!