HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies

[sherbs]

I ordered 2 foam bumpers on April 4th from Omni and they shipped on the 5th. Also their listings are still current on Ebay.

 

[Natedog]

I got same email today, I’ve ordered from Tower and Horizon Hobby and several others. I also usually sign up for newsletter specials, I’m ok with this and appreciate the email. Cases like this everything is under pressure and condensed, bankruptcy, assets, divisions bought and sold, that’s how business goes sometimes.

 

[StomperCrawler]

I got the same email from Tower.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

"Friday was the last day of work for many Hobbico employees, as Horizon Hobby completed its $18.8 million purchase of the hobby product distributor's remote-control business.

Of the 280 Hobbico employees in the RC units, Horizon said in a statement that 200 applied for employment, and 165 were extended offers."

Source: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/lo...transfers-82-hobbico-workers-who-applied.html

 

[calcagno45]

Hope those 165 return to work on Monday and ship my order that’s been pending...

 

[soze]

So.... it looks like HPI items are being dropped from Tower Hobbies left and right.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

So.... it looks like HPI items are being dropped from Tower Hobbies left and right.

Does anybody care at this point? HPI, itself, isn't a reliable company. For the last few years their parts availability has been sporadic at best and you never know if the company is staying or going out of business.

 

[skellyo]

So.... it looks like HPI items are being dropped from Tower Hobbies left and right.

I think this started way before the bankruptcy. However, I'm really not sure if the reason is because Tower may have been behind in paying HPI or Tower decided to drop it because Ripmax went with others to distribute HPI instead. Regardless, HPI parts still seem scarce even with new US distributors.

 

[durok]

I think it's a shame, because HPI has released some really nifty products in the past. Annoys the heck out of me that they seem to always go out of production almost as soon as they are released!

Vehicles I wish I owned (and had endless spares for!) HPI Cup Racer, HPI Mini Trophy truck, and HPI WR8 Flux Ford Fiesta...

 

[TooOldForThis]

The mini trophy truck was ahead of it's time. Really cool.

Edit to add some naked pics:

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I ordered an SCX10 II Cherokee RTR (for my dad) and a Hitec X2 Black charger on two seperate orders late last week. They were both shipped in a timely fashion and they are scheduled for delivery tomorrow. So it looks like Tower is operating normally to me.

 

[svt923]

Another bit of RC industry news: Kyosho bought by a Japanese bank.

Kyosho Sold to Shinsei Bank -NeoBuggy.net – Offroad RC Car News

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Another bit of RC industry news: Kyosho bought by a Japanese bank.

Kyosho Sold to Shinsei Bank -NeoBuggy.net – Offroad RC Car News

I just came to post this. WTF?!?! Kyosho is a monster. This is sad and scary news. The RC industry seems to be in big trouble.

 

[soze]

Another bit of RC industry news: Kyosho bought by a Japanese bank.

Kyosho Sold to Shinsei Bank -NeoBuggy.net – Offroad RC Car News

Arrrgh nooo! Hopefully they recover. Kyosho has a special place for me, as the Raider was my first hobby grade R/C.

Their re-releases have been outstanding. I've been looking to what else they're going to re-release with hopes of the Optima Mid, Turbo Optima Mid, and Turbo Ultima to be available.

 

[wings_of_fire]

I just came to post this. WTF?!?! Kyosho is a monster. This is sad and scary news. The RC industry seems to be in big trouble.

There is a point beyond which competetion turns into a b***h.

Constantly changing products is a huge burden due to tooling and a list of associated costs. Unfortunately change is what drives this industry.

I would prefer solid built products that will last for couple decades insted of use and throw junk.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

There is a point beyond which competetion turns into a b***h.

Constantly changing products is a huge burden due to tooling and a list of associated costs. Unfortunately change is what drives this industry.

I would prefer solid built products that will last for couple decades insted of use and throw junk.

Not pricing for the market, which Kyosho is very guilty of doing, doesn't help their cause. Kyosho is quality, but they are overpriced IMO.

 

[wings_of_fire]

Not pricing for the market, which Kyosho is very guilty of doing, doesn't help their cause. Kyosho is quality, but they are overpriced IMO.

All Japanese products seem over priced , which they actually are :lmao:

 

[JatoTheRipper]

All Japanese products seem over priced , which they actually are :lmao:

You could take that farther and say all products are overpriced. 10% profit margins are no longer deemed acceptable. Now companies are making 25% plus on a lot of products unless it's parts of the razor blade scheme.

 

[calcagno45]

You could take that farther and say all products are overpriced. 10% profit margins are no longer deemed acceptable. Now companies are making 25% plus on a lot of products unless it's parts of the razor blade scheme.

Acceptable is subjective. If I can sell and make 100+% GP, better believe I will.

 

[wings_of_fire]

You could take that farther and say all products are overpriced. 10% profit margins are no longer deemed acceptable. Now companies are making 25% plus on a lot of products unless it's parts of the razor blade scheme.

Companies that work on 10% profit go extinct.