In a bid to expand their ever growing product line, Hobbico Inc. announced yesterday that it had aquired Axial Racing, Team Durango, and ARRMA.

Here is Hobbico Inc.’s official release. What do you think? Is this a good thing for the hobby? Or will Axial, Durango and ARRMA suffer from this move.

Founded in 2005, Axial offers industry-leading R/C vehicles, focused on rock crawling and rock racing products. With excellent design features and a high level of detail, Axial specializes in highly realistic ready-to-run vehicles including the recently released EXO Terra Buggy and the popular Wraith Rock Racer.

Established in 2009, Team Durango is known for state-of-the-art race vehicles in 1/10 and 1/8 scale including the revolutionary and patented DEX210 2WD buggy and the fastest 4WD competition SC truck, the DESC410R. Team Durango holds world and national championship titles around the globe.

ARRMA is a new product line introduced in 2011, offering a selection of vehicles with advanced features, unique designs and parts compatibility. The Raider Buggy and Fury Short Course Truck are popular items from ARRMA. The acquisition also includes the dBoots brand of R/C tires which specialize in off-road tires for multi-surface indoor and outdoor tracks.

Hobbico is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of model hobby products, including radio controlled models, plastic model kits, rockets and other hobby products. The employee-owned company manufactures and distributes many famous hobby brands such as Duratrax, TrakPower, O’Donnell Racing Fuel, Revell, Estes, Great Planes, HeliMax, MonoKote, Real Flight, Top Flite, SuperTigre, Aquacraft, and others. Hobbico also represents Futaba, OS Engines, ThunderTiger and other product lines in the U.S. and other parts of America.

Axial will continue to operate as an independent company from its facility in Irvine, California. Team Durango and ARRMA will also continue independently from their current offices in Ashby, Leicestershire, UK. The product lines will continue to be available through a worldwide network of distributors.

“We’re proud to bring these strong product lines into the Hobbico family,” said Wayne Hemming, President of Hobbico. “I’m particularly happy to welcome the teams of talented professionals at Axial, Team Durango and ARRMA and look forward to the innovative products that they are developing.”

“I’m excited about this new affiliation with Hobbico,” said Jeff Johns, General Manager of Axial R/C Inc., “This will give Axial additional resources to continue our rapid growth.”

“I look forward to working with Durango and ARRMA staff as well as those within Hobbico to continue to introduce innovative and successful products. This is an exciting step which we are sure will help take us to the next level” said Jason Dearden, Managing Director of ARRMA Durango, Ltd.