Framburgs did them a disservice. An exception (IMHO) were the IJN DD upgrades in the mid-70s, with much improved masting and main battery turrets. Apparently, later re-works of those were done (presumably to simplify casting) and those re-re-works came out inferior to the original Frambergs.
All that said, I'm going to now keep my eyes out for an original Framburg Saratoga. Also, I'm going to send you a couple of photos by email of the model to which I was referring. Maybe you can identify it for me.
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Neither Comet nor Framburg made INDIANAPOLIS, so presumably your model is a Superior, although South Salem did do PORTLAND in early war rig. As regards U.S. and British ships Framburg were definitely the most anatomically accurate, although not all castings were sharp, many having “soft” edges and corners.
Recognizing the excellent quality of Framburgs, Superior made knockoffs of many of them, using them to replace less accurate Comets. In many cases Superior’s efforts to later improve the models by adding things like boats, rafts, anchor chains etc actually detracted from the quality and accuracy of the original models.
The original Framburg SARATOGA was THE most accurate model of the ship until the Neptun model was released some fifty years later.
Comet’s models of Japanese and German ships were measurably improved once the Navy supplied ONI drawings etc for these ships, so many of them were very good. If you have ever seen the earlier Comets, which went through several revisions, then you can see the massive difference. Early Comets were cartoonish, or monstrosities, and uniformly rejected for use by the military.
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If you are a collector of post-WWII models from the likes of Comet, Framburg and so on, would you share with us please which ships you find to be the "best" models in terms of sharpness of castings and general appearance? I have a USS Indianapolis which I find to be quite nice, even if very simple in terms of detail level.
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