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So this servo came up on ebay and I had never seen it before. Almost bought it just because but common sense got the better of me. So it got me thinking.. what exactly are Novak servos? Certainly they didn't design and manufacture the core, motor and gears etc? I know that at least the early models were modified and/or rebadged Kraft servos. Did all Novak servos use Kraft parts? Did they just tool the orange casing and use Kraft parts, perhaps just changing some of the gears for specific requirements?

..and here is the one that came up. Is it just based on some Kraft servo? I didn't find one that looked the same, but they may have just modified the casing design when tooling the orange parts.

Novak servos were based on Bantam Midgets iirc. They share a lot anyway. If you get bored, Google Bob Novak and you will see his extensive history in rc, especially aircraft early on. He was a huge influence on the industry outside of the orange car stuff we know.

Attached a pic of one of my Bantams

Also a good read.... https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/NovakRobertEBob.pdf

These are similar to that eBay servo, but not identical.
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Frankentruck wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 5:13 pm These are similar to that eBay servo, but not identical.

Interesting. That really is pretty much the same thing. I wonder if that one in the auction isn't even a Novak branded servo, since there is no mention of it anywhere. Even though he still may very well have designed it.. I've known of Bob Novak since the 80's and still have a Novak 1, 4, 410-MXc, NER-2X's and NES-1A from back then, as well as other stuff bought later on. But I didn't know the extent of his involvement in the servo and receiver designs. Regarding servos, it appears I assumed things backwards from fact. It appears he actually designed the servos and some were sold under other names (ACE, Kraft etc..). So all respect to Bob Novak. So the NES-1A was indeed a high-quality purpose-built mini servo for RC cars and deserves to be held in high regard.

Occasionally one of the early Novak receivers pops up. It's basically 2x the size of a NER-2S. They are not externally marked. I haven't opened it up to check internals.
https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?t=6525
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