MTA Hobbies not just a fun-fly vendor:

Well I myself have been looking to get a T-Rex 700 ever since they released.  Of course I have been trying to give my advertisers the business before I give it to anyone else.  I have found it VERY hard to get a T-Rex 700, even DIRECT from Andy and Kyna at Assurance.  I finally got one last week and slapped it together but now there seems to be a shortage of .90 motors and pipes.  I live in the Los Angeles area and the only place I usually mail order from is Modefos Heli.  I had been calling all over L.A. and found that MTA Hobbies seems to have A TON of things in stock that no other stores around the country has in stock.  Looks like they even have 8717’s which are becoming scarce.  NO ONE has Spartan Gyros that I can find.  I used to just buy from them like crazy at fun-flys but it looks as if I am going to have to start mail ordering from them as well.

When I called Rosie at MTA on Saturday she said she had OS, YS and Align 91s In-Stock.  That’s insane.  I did find some 6 YS 91s down at Discount Hobby Warehouse in San Diego and 1 Align motor at Robin’s Hobby in Glendale, CA.  Robin’s is only selling their 91 with a T-Rex 700 that they have sitting there as well.

[ check out more MTA Hobbies Specials here ]

Press Release Today:

Remanzacco, Udine - Italy
June 30th 2008.

ElyQ, an industrial group formed by the consumer product giant Q.Bell and the Investment Bank Friulia SpA has taken a new investor into its consortium of industrial companies. In its search for expansion into the hobby and sports product markets Q.Bell, a corporation dedicated to the manufacturing of Advanced TV sets such as HD-TVs and LCD Computer Monitors with annual sales of just over 1.5 Billion US dollars, has taken Avant RC as a partner into its ElyQ industrial group. The industrial group is also backed by the participation of the Friulia SpA Investment Bank, a bank with 38 years of experience and investments in over 500 corporations in the aerospace, information technology, nanotechnology and other high-tech industries.

After commissioning an extensive research into the RC Helicopter market segment to identify upcoming leading products ElyQ identified the helicopters currently manufactured as well as the products in the process of development by Avant RC as the best candidates to become part of its exclusive industrial group.

For Avant RC the addition of the extensive production capabilities brought by Q.Bell’s own manufacturing facilities in China, Italy and USA applicable to the upcoming Aurora 50 Pro class and the 500 electric class completes the circle giving the Avant RC line the production capabilities of the highest volume level at extremely competitive pricing. As for ElyQ this addition increases the spectrum of products that ElyQ can offer for the RC and sports market covering a range going from the toy helicopters currently sold in supermarkets around Europe and soon to be available in the US as well as entry-level small helicopters like the 450 class EQ45, the economical high performance Vision 50 all the way to the most advanced machine in the market.

After intensive negotiations and visits by the Avant RC management to several of the ElyQ industrial group’s ISO 9001:00, ISO 14001:04 and OHSAS 18001:07 certified facilities as well as looking at its financial, personnel and technical capabilities the management was convinced that ElyQ was the ideal match for such a venture. As a result Avant RC acquired an important portion of the consortium and has become the third investor in the ElyQ group.

As a result of this acquisition the President of Avant RC has joined the Board of Directors of ElyQ, and is now part of the top directing figures and has also taken the position of executive Vice-President of the consortium.

The people of ElyQ and Avant RC are very excited by these new developments and will be showcasing together at the 3D Masters as the Top event sponsor well as he IRCHA Jamboree as a Platinum sponsor. We welcome and invite you to join us in this exciting new chapter of the industry.

What does this all mean?  I think thats open to interpretation but the forum people are making alot of noise about this quasi-merger.  I’ll remain impartial.

You can also read the Press release at the companies sites:

[ Press release at the Avant RC site ]

[ Press release at ElyQ's website ]