Revell update: Revell USA and Revell Germany have new owners

Hobbico, the owners of several hobby brands has been broken up and the individual companies and assets have been sold to several different parties.   The company filed for bankruptcy in January.    On April 3, 2018, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Great Planes, which is the RC airplane division, along with Tower Hobbies, their online sales division, to Horizon Hobby for 18.8 million dollars.   Estes, the model rocket division, was sold to The Langford Group for 7 millian dollars.

Another auction was held on April 13, 2018, to sell off the remaining brands including Revell USA and Revell Germany.    Both companies were sold to a German firm identified as Blitz in court documents.   A separate press release identified the company as Quantum Capital Partners.   Blitz acquired all of the assets including toolings and molds, trademarks, and other assets for 3.9 million dollars.    The new company will be managed by the Revell Germany management team and operated out of Germany.   The offices in Elk Grove, Illinois closed on April 13 and at least 15 people were let go.  There were other US hobby companies interested in acquiring Revell, but both companies were sold to Blitz in Germany.

At this time it is not known what the new Revell company will do with the existing molds, although it is expected they will make every effort to make money from their investment.    It is also not known how Revell’s product will be distributed in the US.   And we don’t know what will happen with products currently in development by Revell.

Stay tuned….

This info was compiled with help and references from Michael Benolkin at Cybermodeler, Fine Scale Modeler, Revell Germany’s press release, the News-Gazette in Champaign, and a little bit of insider info.