a few things i can bring light to:
1) Revell and Monogram are basically the same company... they merged in 1986 and are formally known as Revell-Monogram Inc.
2) it appears that most of tower hobbies financial problems started when a well known r/c car manufacturer sued them (as well as others) for patent infringement. Many deep in the r/c car world feel the lawsuits were unjust, and that the car manufacturer should never have received those patents.... I am not 100% clear on the patents, or whether the r/c car company should have them, so i am not naming names.