Arrma going bust ?

[TwiZted SkullZ]

The thing is,something like these particular type cars that were meant to go bashing,jumping,backflips etc.,
and just flat beat to hell out of them.....plastic stuff WILL break.
And considering people who post here on this and other forums,are just a small fraction of Arrma purchasers.
So parts on B/O are just an indication of how popular these cars might really be,
and is an indication of what parts incur the most repeatable damage....hopefully Arrma will take notice too!
I think Arrma/Hobbico are more than likely overwhelmed with the interest in some of their products,
and right now just can't keep up with supply and demand.

Time will tell!

 

[typhon34]

So I'm cirious... what parts cant people get ?
And where cant they get them ?
The one local shop near me that still sells arrma has almost every part in stock all the time. And the next one will order parts in and they only take a few days. Or do we just have lots of stock in Aus ?

 

[Dustin Mustangs]

Take a look at tower's website and their part listings by vehicle. From my experience, their availability is pretty representative of the US market as a whole. I checked the outcast and the kraton yesterday (the two I would be interested in) and a good portion of both part lists were on backorder.

FWIW, Arrma has had part supply issues to one extent or another pretty much constantly for years now. This, however, is the first time I have heard rumors of financial struggle. The two are not necessarily related.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

I just looked at Tower's website for the Kraton parts and 36 out of 132 parts are backordered. 10 are pins/bearings/screws/nuts/washers. Most of the backordered parts are shock/suspension related things (known to be pretty good but not bulletproof), differential related (known to be problematic if not properly shimmed), front A-arms (what car doesn't break A-arms here and there) and the pinions and motor mount (I know that I have needed to get new ones of these due to Arrma's loctite habits). So most of the backorded items are either hardware or commonly broken/known problematic issues. The ones that I would consider not common are the turnbuckles, ball cup ends and driveshafts as I haven't had a single problem with these what so ever and haven't read about many problems with them. Not saying nobody does, just saying I never have. At this point, I guess I am not too worried about parts being backordered.

 

[robl45]

So your not worried that the major parts that everyone needs to keep the vehicle running are not available. Okay

 

[chevys10zr2003]

So your not worried that the major parts that everyone needs to keep the vehicle running are not available. Okay

No, I am not too worried about it. If there are some parts that are known to be weak spots, obviously those are going to be the first ones that get ordered and go on back order. Also, if there is any hiccup with your suppliers, the commonly broken parts will be the first ones to go on back order. Yeah it sucks if you need a part and it's back ordered but a company can't keep a limitless supply of every single part on hand and I understand that.

 

[robl45]

What you say makes sense. However in the 30 years I've been playing with these things, its never been like Arrma. They get a part in, its in for a few days and then backordered for months. A couple of weeks I could understand.

No, I am not too worried about it. If there are some parts that are known to be weak spots, obviously those are going to be the first ones that get ordered and go on back order. Also, if there is any hiccup with your suppliers, the commonly broken parts will be the first ones to go on back order. Yeah it sucks if you need a part and it's back ordered but a company can't keep a limitless supply of every single part on hand and I understand that.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

What you say makes sense. However in the 30 years I've been playing with these things, its never been like Arrma. They get a part in, its in for a few days and then backordered for months. A couple of weeks I could understand.

I get what you are saying as well. It could be a number of different things that is causing the parts shortage. It could be that they got more popular faster than they were anticipating, maybe they received bad batches of parts, maybe they got new parts suppliers, maybe they are having financial troubles. I honestly don't know for sure what is going on as none of us do. I'm just saying that something like parts being backordered doesn't necessarily mean that the company is going under.

Also, if Hobbico does go under I feel pretty confident that Futaba, Axial, Arrma, Duratrax and HPI would most likely be bought out by another company, but that is just my opinion.

 

[72Z15SS]

There aren't enough aftermarket parts to run these things if arrma goes belly up. They don't have parts now. Big difference between an rc10 and this

Maybe we should start swamping RPM with emails for some of the plastic parts.

 

[Frank]

I get what you are saying as well. It could be a number of different things that is causing the parts shortage. It could be that they got more popular faster than they were anticipating, maybe they received bad batches of parts, maybe they got new parts suppliers, maybe they are having financial troubles. I honestly don't know for sure what is going on as none of us do. I'm just saying that something like parts being backordered doesn't necessarily mean that the company is going under.

Also, if Hobbico does go under I feel pretty confident that Futaba, Axial, Arrma, Duratrax and HPI would most likely be bought out by another company, but that is just my opinion.

HPI already has been bought by Ripmax the middle of last year. This is why parts are starting to become available again for HPI, while Ripmax was getting their manufacturing in order. Hobbico never owned the rights to HPI, was just the exclusive distributor. I believe they still are.

But I totally agree that the brands you mentioned will be around for a long time, one way or another.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

HPI already has been bought by Ripmax the middle of last year. This is why parts are starting to become available again for HPI, while Ripmax was getting their manufacturing in order. Hobbico never owned the rights to HPI, was just the exclusive distributor. I believe they still are.

But I totally agree that the brands you mentioned will be around for a long time, one way or another.

I didn't know that HPI got sold as my only HPI is my Baja 5B SS and I haven't needed parts for it for like 5 months since winter hit. I was just going off of Hobbico's website and HPI was on there. The financial report that was shown earlier in this thread only showed up to 2015. I think it would be really interesting to see how 2016 was. I think that their popularity may have grown a bit in 2016 as I know I had never heard much of anything of Arrma until the V2's became available on their 1/8 platform and fixed the ESC problems.

 

[Frank]

I didn't know that HPI got sold as my only HPI is my Baja 5B SS and I haven't needed parts for it for like 5 months since winter hit. I was just going off of Hobbico's website and HPI was on there. The financial report that was shown earlier in this thread only showed up to 2015. I think it would be really interesting to see how 2016 was. I think that their popularity may have grown a bit in 2016 as I know I had never heard much of anything of Arrma until the V2's became available on their 1/8 platform and fixed the ESC problems.

Same here. Never even heard of them at all until late last year when I saw them in a Tower catalog. They looked intriguing so I started looking into them and was happy with what I found. Now I own 3 lol

If you only own one HPI, the baja is a good one.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

If you only own one

Same here. Never even heard of them at all until late last year when I saw them in a Tower catalog. They looked intriguing so I started looking into them and was happy with what I found. Now I own 3 lol

I'm in the same boat. I had my HPI Baja and then I got a Senton, Typhon and Kraton and have been wanting an Outcast.

 

[Frank]

I'm in the same boat. I had my HPI Baja and then I got a Senton, Typhon and Kraton and have been wanting an Outcast.

Not sure what happened to my post above but it was supposed to say if you only own one HPI, the baja is a good one. Gonna edit that haha.

But nice! You have a good collection too. You'd love the Outcast. That's my go to truck right now.

 

[chevys10zr2003]

Not sure what happened to my post above but it was supposed to say if you only own one HPI, the baja is a good one. Gonna edit that haha.

But nice! You have a good collection too. You'd love the Outcast. That's my go to truck right now.

I'm sure I would love the Outcast. The Kraton is my son's so I don't get to drive it at all but the Kraton looks like a blast too. I just need to work some overtime and wait for a day that I can get it without the wife seeing.

 

[robl45]

True, but when hobbico is delaying retirement payments that to me says they don't have enough cash to buy enough parts. I'm all for lean inventories, but this is a bit silly.

I get what you are saying as well. It could be a number of different things that is causing the parts shortage. It could be that they got more popular faster than they were anticipating, maybe they received bad batches of parts, maybe they got new parts suppliers, maybe they are having financial troubles. I honestly don't know for sure what is going on as none of us do. I'm just saying that something like parts being backordered doesn't necessarily mean that the company is going under.

Also, if Hobbico does go under I feel pretty confident that Futaba, Axial, Arrma, Duratrax and HPI would most likely be bought out by another company, but that is just my opinion.

 

[Frank]

I'm sure I would love the Outcast. The Kraton is my son's so I don't get to drive it at all but the Kraton looks like a blast too. I just need to work some overtime and wait for a day that I can get it without the wife seeing.

I hear ya. When I got mine I told her it was just a new body for one of my old ones lol.

 

[robl45]

I hear ya. When I got mine I told her it was just a new body for one of my old ones lol.

Lol. I've done the same thing. Although I did it with a Helicopter.

 

[typhon34]

This is my local shop 5 minutes away....
http://www.mashobbies.com.au/arrma-kraton-blx-parts-only-ar106005.html

Got everything but the battery tray and chassis brace for kraton... And it was me that bought the battery tray the other day

 

[skeeler]

Maybe we should start swamping RPM with emails for some of the plastic parts.

Looks like arms are available now:

https://arrmaforum.com/threads/rpm-a-arms-for-the-talion-kraton-and-outcast.3540/