Ship copies was: Ship sales

Jon wrote
> >>1) One thing no one has manufactured: Manufacture of a design by
license.
> >
> >I think that this definitely goes on. Not only that, but it allows
for
some
> >more iteresting variants.
>
> I'm sure it does, and not only under licence - there is probably a
good
bit
> of "buy one (or just nick the plans, much cheaper!), build lots of
> near-copies" among the smaller powers.....
>
> Jon (GZG)

I don't think it's that easy to steal a vessel and then reverse-engineer
it
to build copies. There have been few instances, the most complex example
I
can think of is the Soviet copy of the B29 Superfortress,
reverse-engineered
from one that crashed in their territory.

Stealing plans seems more likely.

In both instances, the copycats usually think they know better and will
modify the design.

By far the most common will be designs inspired by a successful type. Of
course, at first sight and in raw stats, these might be
undistinguishable
from the original ;-)

Greetings
Karl Heinz