Today, while surfing around on Futaba's website, they have OS Engines under thier products. Does Futaba own OS?

I saw the same thing last night, was curious about it too.

Tim

When you hear people talk about "the Empire" here, they're not talking about Star Wars. They're talking about Great Planes/Hobbico/Tower Hobbies which controls the importation and distribution of an incredibly wide variety of hobby goods into the US.

may the force be with you


john

I myself, have noticed that there are a heck of a lot of R/C companies located in Champaign, Illinois. But to be honest, I could care less, because "Thank God" for this hobby.

there are two major players in this hobby great planes/hobbico/tower and horizon/hanger9/jr

each has it's own ups and downs. i love futaba radio gear, but i really like jr servos

So I fly a lot of hanger 9 stuff that i get from a horizon distributer with a futaba radio and an OS engine.

I guess my question wasnt fully understood. This has nothing to do with horizon, towerhobbies, great planes, hobbico, jr, or hanger9.

I was on the [link=http://futaba.com]FUTABA[/link] website, and under THIER [link=http://futaba.com/products/hrc/products/index.asp]products[/link], they list OS Engines.

Does futaba own OS Engines?

you do know that you can use JR servos with a futaba receiver...i do it all the time with no problems...if you use futaba servos with a JR receiver you have to sand off the lip on the side of the servo connector...they are set up the same pos,neg,sig...

i hope this helps you
john

www.Futaba.com is copyright Futaba Corp of America. The OS site it links to is the U.S. website for OS, copyright Hobico.

So, while I'm pretty sure that OS and Futaba are actually different companies with neither owning the other, they are REALLY close marking wise, and both part of the Hobico "family" of companies. So anything you see marked "Futaba" or "OS" in the US is going to be coming from the empire, not direct from Futaba or OS. Including their web sites.

I believe Futaba owns OS. I seem to remember something a few years ago announcing the purchase.

Ask Bax, he could tell you.

been a lip sander for years!

I believe that Jim is right. I seem to remember that OS was sold a few years back. The original founder wanted to retire as I remember. And I am almost certain Futaba bought the company. My memory is a little hazy on this. I do not use OS engines. But I do own and use Futaba radio's.

Mark Shuman

Futaba, O.S., Hobbico, Great Planes, Super Tigre, Kontronik, and Kyosho are all named under Best RC, www.bestrc.com

Most likely there's an "overlord" corporation managing all those subbrands. That overlord might be BestRC.

I think Horizon is the overlord corp. for JR, Hangar 9, and Seagull.

I thought Hobbico owned or imported all of Tower Hobbies brands.

Although, just to throw into the arguement I think Ripmax is also a big player!
Zimbo

I personally dont think Futaba is owned by any "Hobby type RC" company. "Hobby RC" is a VERY small portion of thier company.

We used futaba controls a lot with the automation and controls of industrial machines.

Futaba do own OS. The hobby industry is a strange one. In the UK Irvine manufacture their own engines but they are also the exclusive distributor of OS engines and Sanwa radio gear (not futaba) Go figure...

I think we should be Commies and get some AK47's and blow up the hobby monopolies!

I'm just kidding, but I always get a feeling that there's a cold war going on between the monopolies.... also, the "exclusive distributor" thing is really getting on my nerves. Why the heck can't we just sell the frickin things wherever we want?