The Rise of Horizon Hobby
Founder Rick Stephens, along with a handful of his family and industry professionals, opened Horizon Hobby for business in October 1985. Enjoying positive growth, a second distribution center soon followed and was opened in Paso Robles, California, so Horizon could service retailers west of the Rockies. In the early 1990s, Horizon acquired Hobby Dynamics and started to gain exclusive distribution rights for several other premier RC brands, including JR Remote Control. By 1998, using the Internet and e-commerce, Horizon started reaching out directly to hobby consumers and acquired catalog retailer Indy RC. By 2000, Horizon debuted the HobbyZone Firebird to launch the popular teach-yourself-to-fly category. A valued industry partner, Horizon had been advertising several of its exclusive brands, such as JR, MDS, Hangar 9, Saito, and Zenoah, in Model Airplane News for many years, and it was in our January and February 2000 issues that the brand really kicked into high gear. These multiplepage ads proudly told the hobby industry that
Indy RC would now be known as Horizon Hobby. In 2014, Horizon became an LLC and began a new chapter with new ownership led by CEO Joe Ambrose and a group of investors. This new ownership structure positioned Horizon for positive future growth. Early in 2018, rival company Hobbico filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and by June, it filed for Chapter 7. In April, the bankruptcy court approved Horizon Hobby’s purchase of Hobbico. Following the purchase, Horizon began to distribute several of the Hobbico brands, including Axial, Arrma, Dromida, Great Planes, Real Flight, Top Flite, and Tower Hobbies. Although merging several product lines from both companies has proven to be a challenge, the transition has gone smoothly, and today, Horizon Hobby is the largest RC hobby distribution company in the United States.
Our early issues were filled with rubber-powered, free-flight models, and over the years, they progressed to cover radio control and gas/glow power on to turbine jets and electrics that dominate the flying field today.
Model Airplane News is extremely proud to still be here, 90 years later, celebrating this thrilling and rewarding hobby. The editors and staff thank you, our readers, for your loyalty and enthusiastic support. Here’s to another 90 years aloft!