Tower Hobbies And Futaba

[sherbs]

Well as most know Tower filed chapter 11 and will close in 2 months if a buyer has not been found. As their distribution side Hobbico is the US Futaba distributor. Anyone been told any news as far as continued Futaba support and product availability?

[Greatscott]

It is actually HobbiCo, Tower's parent company that filed for CH.11. HobbiCo also owns Futaba, so if the whole mess does go under, Futaba might also go by way of the dodo...

[JohnnyAnguish]

Hobbico does not own Futaba. They're just the distributor.

[sherbs]

Originally Posted by JohnnyAnguish

Hobbico does not own Futaba. They're just the distributor.

That is what I was told by my hobby shop owner also. But there still would need to be a new distributor and repair center.

[JohnnyAnguish]

Originally Posted by sherbs

That is what I was told by my hobby shop owner also. But there still would need to be a new distributor and repair center.

Sorry. I should have quoted the previous statement about Futaba's ownership. The whole Hobbico mess has created a lot of confusion and unknowns. I just wanted to make sure that the "knowns" are correct.

[sherbs]

Originally Posted by JohnnyAnguish

Sorry. I should have quoted the previous statement about Futaba's ownership. The whole Hobbico mess has created a lot of confusion and unknowns. I just wanted to make sure that the "knowns" are correct.

But if a buyer is found before the 90 days is up all could remain as it is. Now the part the hobby store owner told me that seems a bit much but then again who knows is, Hobbico owes Futaba almost a million and a half dollars. Seems unrealistic.

[Col_Sanders]

Originally Posted by sherbs

But if a buyer is found before the 90 days is up all could remain as it is. Now the part the hobby store owner told me that seems a bit much but then again who knows is, Hobbico owes Futaba almost a million and a half dollars. Seems unrealistic.

IIRC it was actually closer to $2.5 million. That's a lot of radio gear/servos. I wonder how long they have gone without paying and why Futaba continued to send them product.

[durok]

Futaba just signed Adam and Ronda Drake as Team Drivers... 2 days ago.

Don't think they're too worried about continuing to be distributed here.

People sometimes forget just how HUGE they are worldwide.

Wiki:

Industry Electronics
Founded Mobara, Japan (February 3, 1948; 70 years ago)
Headquarters Mobara, Chiba Prefecture 297- 8588, Japan
Key people
Hiroshi　Sakurada
(President)
Products
OLED displays
VFDs
Display modules
Capacitive Touch panels
Radio control equipment
Automation equipment
Components for press die sets and mold bases
Revenue
Increase JPY 64.35 billion (FY 2013)

(US$ 625.24 million) (FY 2013)
Net income
Increase JPY 1.79 billion (FY 2013)

(US$ 17.45 million) (FY 2013)
Number of employees
5,179 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2014)

[mewalsh100]

The whole Tower Hobbies thing is just sad. As a kid / young teen growing up in the early and mid eighties, I used to wait with baited breath for the Tower Hobbies catalog and flyers to show up in my mail box. I'd read them through cover to cover, over and over again. At 13, I finally got my first real hobby grade RC in the Tamiya Frog. I began racing that and did pretty well, and eventually got my coveted Gold Tub RC10 (which I still own) and did even better, ending up with a local sponsorship.

I was talking to the guy who owns my LHS the other day about all of this. He said his Tower rep has worked for the company for 30+ years, and she's basically lost her whole pension and savings with them. I really hope that an Investment Firm or Venture Firm can see the benefit in this company and salvage it and re-tool it. Bums me out to see folks who have spent so much of their time and energy in a company lose everything.

[Jam1sstang]

Don't forget that AXIAL Racing is also a subsidiary of Hobbico...

Hopefully they all don't go down when Hobbico finally does...

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by Jam1sstang

Don't forget that AXIAL Racing is also a subsidiary of Hobbico...

Hopefully they all don't go down when Hobbico finally does...

I don't see AXIAL going anywhere regardless of the outcome of Hobbico's Chapter 11. AXIAL has so much brand clout and recognition in the Crawler / Scaler RC market, they would most definitely survive. Dare I say, they're probably the most viable holding under Hobbico's umbrella, and would almost certainly be picked up and held under new ownership. Not to mention all the third party support and aftermarket for Axial rigs. Hell, you can build an "Axial" rig from scratch using all third party vendors and parts at this point.

[skinnyj]

I'm sure Futaba has a "plan B" for US/NA distribution if Hobbico goes belly-up.

[durok]

Originally Posted by Jam1sstang

Don't forget that AXIAL Racing is also a subsidiary of Hobbico...

Hopefully they all don't go down when Hobbico finally does...

Ummm.... there's been hundreds of posts discussing this very thing in multiple threads going back months............

You sure do enjoy typing in HUGE FONT SIZES...

[sherbs]

Originally Posted by durok

Ummm.... there's been hundreds of posts discussing this very thing in multiple threads going back months............

You sure do enjoy typing in HUGE FONT SIZES...

Have they filed before? I was told it was in Jan 2018.

[Jam1sstang]

Originally Posted by durok

Ummm.... there's been hundreds of posts discussing this very thing in multiple threads going back months............

You sure do enjoy typing in HUGE FONT SIZES...

That's great.. I have not been religiously following every thing here since then.

[sherbs]

Originally Posted by Jam1sstang

That's great.. I have not been religiously following every thing here since then.

My Hobby Shop never said a word about until January, and I am there every Saturday for racing. Lake City Hobby, Plattsburgh, NY. They will be hosting a National race in April if anyone in the area likes oval carpet.