feasibility question: turning dc motor to servo?

You probably could use the internals of a small servo to drive the L298 for your motors. below is a search for "monster servo". If your motors have to hold a load, you probably need to use motors with worm gears.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=monster+servo&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=