Keen Hawk

JANG's Impressions

The DF-03 chassis was introduced to the world under the confident, sleek, black-on-black, perhaps even evil Dark Impact garb. It was the most well-received basher-level 4WD buggy in recent memory, casting a cloud of sweet darkness over the hobby. Later that same year, a "hero" would rise to restore the balance of power. Its name, was Keen Hawk.

All that dramatism as a preface to saying that the Keen Hawk is really exactly the same vehicle as the Dark Impact, it just has a different body and white wheels instead of black. The body draws unlikely inspiration from open-wheel onroad cars like those in Formula 1 & Indy and features a lot of sweeping lines and swooping facets. The cockpit, though, is awkwardly small, creating a bizarre look of unbalanced scale and making this perhaps the ugly twin.

Fortunately for the Keen Hawk, the silver-can Johnson motor that comes with the kit will never push the buggy to speeds where the aerodynamics of the odd body could have any effect on the car's handling. Speaking of handling, the ride quality retains both the positive and negative aspects from the DI. Over jumps it is very level and confident, and cornering is predictable. The stock tires favor wear life over traction, but are a good compromise for general bashing. The tread pattern itself works on a variety of surfaces thanks to the medium-small pins with mini-bars down the center. Even mounted all the way in on the a-arms, the shocks are a bit too stiff with the factory setup, particularly with respect to the springs. The rears in particular are over-sprung relative to the damping, which allows a bit of bouncing & hopping.

Video

See the Dark Impact build page for a video of this exact chassis on a track!

Tips

Again, please visit the Dark Impact review for a list of specific building tips & warnings for this chassis.

Photo gallery samples

Visit the full Keen Hawk gallery for more, including all box art & full parts spreads.

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