THEN AND THE ART OF WAR: FOREIGN POWER

As a follow up to the Topper posts, here is a re-post of an earlier toy I showed a while back.

The Armoured Battalion halftrack and heavy field gun featured in the first post and just recently, I found a knock off version of the vehicles. Made in Italy by Polistil, the main vehicle is clearly copied from Topper, but adds four standard wheels in lieu of tracks.

The Polistil version also manages to improve upon the original design, by adding slits in the armoured windshield, where the Topper version opts for blanks. 

Chrome detailing is kept to a minimum, restricted to hubcaps and a single panel on the cannon, leaving the main bumper and headlights in white plastic. The cannon shells are carried on the main wagon, rather than a dedicated trailer, but the cannon itself is almost identical. 

Whether Polistil picked up the licence and adapted the design, or just plagiarised the design, I don't know, but its a robust and well made toy.