Aquacraft (Hobbico) Files for Bankrupcy

[Steven Vaccaro]

I think MRP was the first to do RTR boats. They had a good size list of boats to choose from as well.

Mark

I still have one.

Here is a cool page
http://codemonkeycrew.com/MRPArchive...6/Default.aspx

[T.S.Davis]

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder?

I get it. Fred and I did that trip to Colorado straight through. 23 hours. It was dumb. Should have stopped somewhere. I was disoriented all week and raced like I felt.

[T.S.Davis]

I think MRP was the first to do RTR boats. They had a good size list of boats to choose from as well.

Mark

The MRC Excalibur had to be around the same era. I remember the Fastcat coming out right around the same time. My mother bought me the Excalibur as a gift for getting straight A's. Think it was 1983 maybe. Pretty sure the MRP stuff was on the shelf then too. The cat was crazy expensive though. Like 200 bucks or something. hahaha

[rol243]

Most r/c gear / boats / planes etc were quite expensive in the early 80,s and even more expensive in the 70,s. there were some great radio sets on the market from Futaba in those days but i just didn,t have the money to afford to buy a set for my r/c planes, had to settle for used radio sets. i remember the company MRP going back some years too.

[TRUCKPULL]

I remember the MRP - Mr Pringles Deluxe Sport Hydro
It was my second Electric RC Boat

It was the fastest boat in our little FE club at the time.

Larry

[ray schrauwen]

Most r/c gear / boats / planes etc were quite expensive in the early 80,s and even more expensive in the 70,s. there were some great radio sets on the market from Futaba in those days but i just didn,t have the money to afford to buy a set for my r/c planes, had to settle for used radio sets. i remember the company MRP going back some years too.

A Hydro Zeta ESC was $300 back in 1987.

There should be no complaints these days on pricing.

[H&YRACING]

FullSizeRender.jpgFullSizeRender-2.jpg

I believe this is the sticker sheet from the early MRP hydro kit. You could choose which style you wanted.

Also we has a few Hydro Zeta's back in the day. I just used one this weekend at a pool run. In a scale boat, not race.

p.s. I just took both of those pictures.....

[TRUCKPULL]

Hydro Zeta - that was $300. and it was only for a brushed motor, NOT brushless.

Larry

[NativePaul]

Nice if you had the money, I used switcher units or servo driven variable resistors, either of which were much cheaper than any of the current popular ESCs, although you can get a Suppo for about the same.

Graupner have been making and selling raceworthy consistently since the early '90s when I got into FE, and probably before that too.

Back onto subject, if Hobbyco are a distributor, do they actually own Aquacraft or just the rights to distribute their products? If they are just a distributor and they go under it could be good for Aquacraft, now that Aquacraft are a known brand and are in many model shops it is not beyond the whit of Man for them to hire some sales staff and distribute themselves to the same shops that are already stocking their products, cutting out a middleman and allowing them greater profit margins.

[srislash]

Hydro Zeta - that was $300. and it was only for a brushed motor, NOT brushless.

Larry

Ha, I got rid of mine two years ago on this forum to a fella. Turbo Zeta even I think. They built them for r/c tractor pull machines.

[longballlumber]

Back onto subject, if Hobbyco are a distributor, do they actually own Aquacraft or just the rights to distribute their products? If they are just a distributor and they go under it could be good for Aquacraft, now that Aquacraft are a known brand and are in many model shops it is not beyond the whit of Man for them to hire some sales staff and distribute themselves to the same shops that are already stocking their products, cutting out a middleman and allowing them greater profit margins.

Hobbico actually owns AquaCraft.

[RaisedByWolves]

I still have one.

Here is a cool page
http://codemonkeycrew.com/MRPArchive...6/Default.aspx

I had a couple of those.

My first boat was a fast cat, it was anything but.

Which to me is kinda what the hobby was in its "Golden years". You bought the initial kit and while it would run, it were no great shakes.
Off to the hobbyshop you would go and after getting advise from the owner you would order all the wrong stuff in an effort to get fast without learning how to get there.

Back then the sales and distributor ships were what ran the shops and kept everyone afloat. No internet, no easy answers and it took money to make any real gains and friends/shop owners to help you get there.

Last year after a 20yr hiatus I got back into RC and I really couldnt believe the amount of speed you could simply "buy" on the cheap and how easy (relatively) it now is to go even faster.

Since Im starting to sound like an old man yelling at the sky Ill just make this one point.

As good as the modern RTR boats are the company's making them are putting themselves out of business. Theres not really much to be gained in the way of repeat business as there used to be, as a lot of the new boats go as fast as the first time owner could want right out of the box.

Just my FNG .02c

[rol243]

compare a boat or even a boat motor / engine 45 years back and note the difference now in terms of firstly RTR , there were no rtr boats then as you had to build them yourself, speed difference from then until now is amazing. if you got 20 mph then you would have a record but now you can tripple that speed easy with a rtr boat.

[TRUCKPULL]

They built them for r/c tractor pull machines.

Yes they did- I had a few of them back when.

Larry

[Hydrocarbon82]

My first boat in the 90's was a 5mph Nikko, paid ~$80 with lawnmowing cash. With inflation you can get a similarly priced AQ RTR that goes 20+. The cash needed to get a 20+ boat back then now gets you 50+ lol.

For Hobbico it seems like a combination of factors, no small part being the s***storm that tanked the economy 10yrs ago. I deal with aftermarket parts for race cars & the number of ppl with disposable cash has increased every year since 2010.

[electric]

Found a boat at our family river house in the attic. It was an unbuilt Kyosho Jet Stream 800 with a brushed motor and a mechanical speed control. I built it over a few weekends of visiting an enjoyed running it round. A few months later I ran into the SV27 at the hobby store and bought it. The rest is history....

[hookedup]

thats really too bad to hear. in my humble worthless opinion the SV27 was huge for the hobby. not only the whole brushless aspect, but it was a fast (well fastER than all the brushed boats i had) it was the first RTR boat i bought and the price was affordable for many friends to join the hobby. i think at one point i bought and sold 5 or 6 SV27's to newbie friends who were just getting into the hobby. that boat taught me so much about "tuning", i remember 4 of us running the same batts and props in our SV's and trying to tweak the hell out of the strut, prop, and turn fins to get the most out of it. even fiberglass repair, after months of abuse and countless laps of "rubbing" my SV finally suffered thru the hull damage so i promptly converted it to self righting(which works most of the time). even though the last several boats i have purchased have all been RTR, blackjack, Motley Crue, TFL outerlimits, Venom, the boats i BUILT which are 10-20ish yrs old (BBY oval master, micro patriot, renegade rigger, and the Queen Delta Force 29) all sit on the TOP SHELF in my shed. thank you Aquacraft, Grim, and the rest of the fine people that worked to bring us the great products that made me a better hobbyist!

[ray schrauwen]

I still have my Hydro Zeta and yes the Visa receipt says $300 + tax!!

Fried it once, sent it back for repairs. Still works but the cogging is horrible!!

FullSizeRender.jpgFullSizeRender-2.jpg

I believe this is the sticker sheet from the early MRP hydro kit. You could choose which style you wanted.

Also we has a few Hydro Zeta's back in the day. I just used one this weekend at a pool run. In a scale boat, not race.

p.s. I just took both of those pictures.....

Hydro Zeta - that was $300. and it was only for a brushed motor, NOT brushless.

Larry