Kaetwo's review of the new Axial Wraith

[kaetwo]

Thanks for posting up the pics guys

Brett, that image is wicked cool and is now my background image

Originally Posted by canadianbacon12

Does the plastic feel or look like a new composite, or is it the same type that was used on the SCX10 TR's?

I will have to take a closer look tonight, but I'll compare what it feels like to my Honcho and Dingo's

Originally Posted by reddevildemo

Great review, thanks for taking the time putting this out.
I was up in the air on getting one but now you sold me. If some kids, old falla's like me and the drive it like you stole it crowd can drive it all day with out breakage , it has to be good !

It's my pleasure!!!

[toyofast]

I think this is a good picture of the Wraith too....

[PinchFlat]

Originally Posted by toyofast

I think this is a good picture of the Wraith too....

[MG200]

Thanks for the great review! Can't wait to get one

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by toyofast

I think this is a good picture of the Wraith too....

who exactly is that doing the licking?

[toyofast]

Originally Posted by BigSki

who exactly is that doing the licking?

PinchFlat

[kaetwo]

LOL!!!!

Pinch will lick anything

Here is a picture of the packaging and the rig as it comes from the factory. I'll get a more "Tech" oriented thread in the Axial forum up shortly and post up the thread link.

[GCRad1]

Hey Kaetwo! Thank you for the first impression review, but please tell everyone just how you got your hands on this Wraith!

Originally Posted by kaetwo

Before I begin my review, let me begin by explaining why I feel that I can give an honest review of the rig, even though it’s still unavailable to the public.

Firstly, I had the honor of attending the Montana Scale Nationals this past weekend, where PinchFlat and I judged courses for both Street class and Spec. Being that we were the first to offer our help with Spec, we requested to judge the Wraith course, and couldn’t have been happier when we were told that we would in fact be the judges for that course. As luck would have it, we also had the opportunity to setup the courses that these spec rigs would be running on.

Secondly, I own one

[chicklet]

I'm so jealous!!!

[slobin3d]

Originally Posted by GCRad1

Hey Kaetwo! Thank you for the first impression review, but please tell everyone just how you got your hands on this Wraith!

He laid the smack down in the Spec class at Scale Nats and took home the #1 prize

[toyofast]

Originally Posted by weroliera

Video of this rig crawling would make me wanna buy it maybe

I have lots of video....

[kaetwo]

Originally Posted by GCRad1

Hey Kaetwo! Thank you for the first impression review, but please tell everyone just how you got your hands on this Wraith!

When Axial released the video of the Wraith, I showed it to my 5 year old son who loves to RC with me (He has more RC's than I do )

Since that video came out, he has a pretty structured routine in the morning.

1 - Wake up and eat breakfast
2 - Watch the Wraith video
3 - Watch Life Cycles (the finest Mountain Biking Video ever!!!!)
4 - And polish things off with either Toyofasts 2010 Nats video or some KOH video from 2009 - 2011

Everyday, he asks me if I can buy a Wraith for him and everyday I have to tell him that there not available yet. So, when I found out that there would be one up for grabs at this years Montana Scale Nationals, I dropped my focus on all the other classes (Street, Trail and Modified) and focussed all my attention on the Spec class. Before I left for Montana, I told Kolby that I would bring that rig home for him.

Pinchflat and I, worked together to get through the spec courses, working out all the obstacles and gotchas that may come up. Each of us took turns running the courses first, so that we could learn from each other. After driving our butts off on the 2.2 Honcho, 1.9 Honcho and the Wraith courses, we had to face the dreaded Dingo course that required you to run a trailer. Jack knife the rig and it's 10 points, roll the trailer and it's 5 points and to make things worse, they had a 3 foot backup section downhill that you had to navigate Well as luck would have it, it was Pinch's turn to go first. Now up until this point, our scores where tied. Pinch blew threw the first part of the course with no problem, but the next section was a tricky off camber downhill to flat, that caused almost everyone to roll the trailer, and that's just what happened. So my only shot at winning this Wraith, was to drive that line and the rest of the course clean. I decided to turn into the landing, squaring up the trailer to the flat and stuck it. The rest was pretty straight forward (Well almost. The dang backup almost killed me both mentally and physically ) That course was the most nirve racking course, I have ever ran and I've ran a lot of finals but nothing compared to that one.

In the end, I won the Spec class by like 2-3 points is all, but it was enough to bring home the rig to my son and that's all I cared about. The rest of the event was all icing on the cake for me and my son couldn't be happier.

[ecoli]

Now there's a nice story behind winning the Wraith. I'm sure your son is one happy little guy right now!

[zjguy721]

Does anyone know if Axial plans on releasing it in a kit form?

[PinchFlat]

Originally Posted by kaetwo

When Axial released the video of the Wraith, I showed it to my 5 year old son who loves to RC with me (He has more RC's than I do )...
...Well as luck would have it, it was Pinch's turn to go first. Now up until this point, our scores where tied. Pinch blew threw the first part of the course with no problem, but the next section was a tricky off camber downhill to flat, that caused almost everyone to roll the trailer, and that's just what happened. So my only shot at winning this Wraith, was to drive that line and the rest of the course clean....

Yeah...I threw it for the boy... JK. I do love that little cuss of Kaetwo's and I'm glad it went to him (through Kaetwo of course). I did place 3rd in the spec class (5 points behind Kaetwo & I think 1 or 2 points behind A.J. who sneaked into second - also from Utah) and I brought home the Honcho 1.9 we used in the spec class. I couldn't be happier how it turned out.

[GCRad1]

It states in the muddy Wraith blog on the axial site that it would come kit-form:
http://axialracing.com/wordpress/201...-muddy-wraith/
Down in the comments section...

Originally Posted by zjguy721

Does anyone know if Axial plans on releasing it in a kit form?

[EeePee]

Nicely done K2! Kick ass! Good story too.

[dubAron]

Awesome story me and my 4 year old son spend a lot of time bashing on rigs it's a great feeling to spend quality time with the little ones bashing.

Originally Posted by kaetwo

When Axial released the video of the Wraith, I showed it to my 5 year old son who loves to RC with me (He has more RC's than I do )

Since that video came out, he has a pretty structured routine in the morning.

1 - Wake up and eat breakfast
2 - Watch the Wraith video
3 - Watch Life Cycles (the finest Mountain Biking Video ever!!!!)
4 - And polish things off with either Toyofasts 2010 Nats video or some KOH video from 2009 - 2011

Everyday, he asks me if I can buy a Wraith for him and everyday I have to tell him that there not available yet. So, when I found out that there would be one up for grabs at this years Montana Scale Nationals, I dropped my focus on all the other classes (Street, Trail and Modified) and focussed all my attention on the Spec class. Before I left for Montana, I told Kolby that I would bring that rig home for him.

Pinchflat and I, worked together to get through the spec courses, working out all the obstacles and gotchas that may come up. Each of us took turns running the courses first, so that we could learn from each other. After driving our butts off on the 2.2 Honcho, 1.9 Honcho and the Wraith courses, we had to face the dreaded Dingo course that required you to run a trailer. Jack knife the rig and it's 10 points, roll the trailer and it's 5 points and to make things worse, they had a 3 foot backup section downhill that you had to navigate Well as luck would have it, it was Pinch's turn to go first. Now up until this point, our scores where tied. Pinch blew threw the first part of the course with no problem, but the next section was a tricky off camber downhill to flat, that caused almost everyone to roll the trailer, and that's just what happened. So my only shot at winning this Wraith, was to drive that line and the rest of the course clean. I decided to turn into the landing, squaring up the trailer to the flat and stuck it. The rest was pretty straight forward (Well almost. The dang backup almost killed me both mentally and physically ) That course was the most nirve racking course, I have ever ran and I've ran a lot of finals but nothing compared to that one.

In the end, I won the Spec class by like 2-3 points is all, but it was enough to bring home the rig to my son and that's all I cared about. The rest of the event was all icing on the cake for me and my son couldn't be happier.

[TexasSP]

Having my own little almost 5 year old RC buddy and reading your story really excited me kaetwo. Thanks for sharing that and great win for the boy for sure.

My son recently created his own rc advancement plan for what RC's he wants at what occasion in which order. He explained it all to me in the car one day after at trip to the LHS.

[Matt.k]

Originally Posted by canadianbacon12

Does the plastic feel or look like a new composite, or is it the same type that was used on the SCX10 TR's?

All our plastics are nylon based. Some are more high impact than others, and some include glass fibers to prevent shape deformation. However the more rigid the material the more brittle it becomes.

The Wraith uses varying different grades of this composite plastic nylon. The majority of it is stiffer than the material we used on the Honcho. Since the tube frame is the main structure for the suspension and drive line to hang from we needed to use a material that was as rigid as possible, while still allowing some flex to prevent it from breaking.

The truck that was driven in the spec class had some of the original tube frame components that we felt were a little too brittle. It obviously didn't break but we knew it would be subjected to some more intense use later on so we opted to select some different materials in certain parts of the tube frame to make sure it was durable.

I'm not saying that it won't break, because I know that everyone will subject it to as much abuse as possible... But I will say that we trashed on it as much as possible and are really happy with how it turned out!

Great write up, I really enjoyed reading it and seeing what the feedback is on it. Enjoy it!



Someone asked about option parts, we are currently working on a bunch of them. Some items are already available since certain components from previous chassis do carry over, and I am pretty sure we will see lots of the vendors start to make parts for them as well.