Whelp, I've had this Ofna Ravager (Hong Nor 9.5) RTR for awhile and nothing good has come of it yet, so it's time to give it a new life with the help of a Novak brushless conversion kit:

http://www.teamnovak.com/products/br...its/index.html

These kits just started shipping about a week ago and Novak offers different sets for the following buggies:

• RC8
• CEN Matrix
• HB Lightning
• Inferno (777 & up)
• MBX5
• OFNA 9.5, Hyper 7, Hyper 8
• XRay XB8
• Losi 8ight

I'm pairing mine with a HV-Maxx 6.5 system with the 5mm shaft preinstalled.

It's important to note that this is not intended to be a plug & play kit. It requires some drilling and trimming for specific applications, but Novak is very up-front about this and makes appropriate notes & warnings at various places in the instructions. At the very least, you need a drill or rotary tool with a 9/64" bit (3.2mm supposedly... I used a #30 that's intended for prepping 4mm screw holes). For some applications where you need to drill into the chassis plate, you'll also need a countersinking bit to accomodate flat-head screws from underneath.

For my Ravager conversion, I'm chosing the double battery tray option (there's also an option for a single tray). This isn't the best way to centralize the weight, but I want to keep the center of the chassis open for some other things to come later on. I'm also only using plain ole' NiMH sport packs for now.


I'll just post pics as I go!


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Step 1: Remove the nitro stuff

This was very straightforward. Stuff to go includes:

• Motor & pipe
• Fuel tank
• Radio box(es)
• Brakes
• Throttle servo
• Steering servo
• Servo deck

The steering servo has to come out because the deck needs to be trimmed on this particular buggy.

Sweet. Looking forward to the end product.

I've been waiting to see a build with one of these kits. And whats the round thing with the Q-tip in the second pic, next to the fan?

That'd be a little dish of thermal paste for the installation of the smaller heat sink/mount.

mmm, not bad, but kinda conjurs up a little valkery dont it, but, less of a wallet eater, that thing will haul though, a guy was at my track a couple of weeks back with the losi version. it was odd seeing a losi 8 with no noise comin out but smokin the turmoils and mugens

Valkyrie? Nah, I wouldn't even pretend this is trying to be an "Ultimate" project.

Step 2: Prep the servo deck

For this buggy, the servo deck needs to be cut to remove the throttle servo mount and make more room. I first cut according to the manual's recommendation (as shown in the photos), but once I mocked up where the battery trays would be, I found that I needed to remove the transponder mount and slice about 1/8" of material off the outside edge of the plate for clearance.

Step 3: Mount the battery trays

I forgot to take pics of this step, but it was pretty straightforward. I had to drill holes through the stone guards for the mounts and also trim down a couple of the stone guard mounting screw posts from the top side to allow the trays to sit low and secure. Some installs will require drilling through the aluminum chassis to mount one of the battery tray.

Step 4: Prep the motor

Novak really did an interesting thing here, supplying a heat sink that works as a very secure, clamping mount. To install it, you need to remove the endbell, slide off the outer motor sleeve (a laborious process as it fit very, very snugly), apply the meager included dab of heat transfer paste (included q-tip NOT recommended as it is too absorbant), and then slide on the new 'sink before re-securing the endbell and tightening two clamping screws. Care needs to be given to ensure that you're orienting the motor terminals correctly, and lining up all screws and especially the endbell.

Step 5: Mount the motor!

This was a piece of cake. There's a 3mm hard-anodized metal adapter plate included that screws directly onto the bottom of the heat sink/mount (use threadlock!), and then you use your original nitro motor mount screws in their original locations to secure the adapter plate. Kits for some buggies require alternate hardware (included, and noted in the instructions).


Next up, it'll be time to get the electronics situated.

Step 6: Mount electronics

The key here was just keeping wires safely away from driveline components. I had to trim a little material off the corner of the right battery tray to help the big ESC to fit in its tight corner, but after that everything was pretty straightforward -- patience & zip ties solved everything!


So that's it! Now the conversion is done and I just need to take 'er out for some test runs. I'll also weigh everything up and let you all know what the differences are between nitro & electric, comparing both NiMH and LiPo setups. After that, it'll be time to pursue the real purpose of this vehicle

Fighter-jet body much? Meh, I'm a flat-black fan, lol. The conversion kit looks VERY nice. Keeps stuff clean and simple.
If I had a job, a project like this would be high up on my list, but both the buggy (even as a roller) and the BL system, not to mention the LiPos are all out of my budget on their own.

To take it down a runway in FL and hit a ramp at the end to see if you can clear the everglades?

not a bad looking set-up except for the batterys hanging way off to the sides. id like to try one for myself in the future. Cant wait to see some videos with lipo packs.
btw i think some black wheels would really complete the look.

There's an option on this chassis to also do a single battery tray setup closer to the centerline, but as noted in the opening post, I needed to leave the center of the chassis open.

Here are the two setups for this one:

http://www.teamnovak.com/products/br...-1_ONFA9.5.pdf