FOREART R5901 1/35 IDF M113 Armored Car Model Kit Unboxing Review
This plastic armor kit is released by FOREART in 1/35 scale.
FOREART is a relatively new model brand founded in 2020. It originally operated under the name FORE HOBBY and rebranded to FOREART in 2023. As stated in its brand manifesto, its core values revolve around developing a full lineup of scale military models with meticulous craftsmanship, rigorous historical research, and faithful recreation of authentic historical details.
The brand previously focused primarily on 1/72 scale armored vehicle kits, which earned widespread praise from hobbyists for their affordable pricing and premium level of detail that outperformed many competitors in the same price bracket. Last year, it expanded into the 1/35 scale market with the M142 HIMARS rocket artillery system kit, which went on to win the German magazine’s Modell des Jahres 2026 (Model of the Year 2026) award. Despite its recent rebranding, the Nanjing-based manufacturer is actually a long-standing veteran within the scale modeling industry if you trace back its corporate origins.
Unfortunately, this kit is not an all-new original release; it is merely a reboxed older mold. Veteran hobbyists can likely guess its source by looking at the other kits released alongside it. This model repurposes molds originally produced by Dragon Models (DML), yet it carries a far more budget-friendly price tag of only 99 Chinese Yuan — a sum that would not even cover a small motorcycle accessory kit from Dragon’s lineup. Presumably to avoid confusion among new hobbyists unfamiliar with its background, the brand assigned a brand-new catalog number series to this kit: R5901.
Speaking of Dragon Models, here’s a breaking piece of news: Founded back in 1987, the once industry-leading Dragon Models recently announced its permanent withdrawal from the plastic scale model market. All its existing tooling molds will be handed over to Zimi Model. I don’t own a huge collection of Dragon kits myself, yet this news still fills me with a tinge of melancholy. Without Dragon disrupting the market landscape in the 1990s, the scale modeling hobby might well have faded away long before the rise of 3D printing. Unlike Hong Kong-based Tristar Models, Dragon at least lives on in an indirect form—though personally, I’d argue its original spirit has long since vanished.
Back to the kit itself. The mold reboxed by FOREART originates from Dragon Models’ M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, catalog number 3608, first released in 2018. It was marketed as a commemorative edition marking the 45th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War (the Fourth Arab–Israeli War). You may refer to the attached images to view the kit’s key features.
The M113 is a fully tracked Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), designed and mass-produced by FMC Corporation. It was the world’s first mass-produced combat vehicle with an all-aluminum hull. Its aluminum armor was far lighter than that of contemporary vehicles of its era: it delivered protection equivalent to the M75, shielding crew and infantry from small-arms fire, while retaining the low weight and mobility of the M59, granting the vehicle air-transportable capability plus limited amphibious performance.
The M113 saw its first combat deployment on March 30, 1962, when the United States supplied 32 units to South Vietnamese forces for service in the Vietnam War. Production ran continuously from 1960 until 2007. An estimated total of over 80,000 M113s and its variants have been manufactured and operated across more than 50 nations worldwide, cementing its status as one of the most iconic armored vehicles (the island off China’s southeast coast also operates more than a thousand examples of this vehicle). It is no exaggeration to state that the M113 has participated in nearly every major armed conflict since the 1960s.
This kit includes marking options for four IDF (Israel Defense Forces) camouflage schemes used during the 1973 Yom Kippur War (Fourth Arab–Israeli War. Israel seized several M113 vehicles from Lebanon in the Third Arab–Israeli War, and officially signed a procurement contract with the United States in 1970. The M113 entered service with the IDF in 1972 and went on to see combat in the Fourth Arab–Israeli War.
Thanks to its user-friendly design, Israel kept receiving large batches of M113s from the US. At its peak, roughly 6,000 M113 variants served in the IDF, making Israel the world’s largest operator of the type outside the United States. In May 2025, Israel’s Ministry of Defense launched a tender to sell off 5,000 surplus M113s. However, during the Yom Kippur War, its thin armor left it unsuitable for frontline combat duty — there are even documented cases of entire M113 units being wiped out in engagements.
The vehicle itself measures only around five meters long, so the kit does not come with an overly generous parts count. The packaging feels rather basic, with two distinct box art variants supplied.
Upon opening the box, Dragon’s original logo is clearly visible on the plastic sprues. This confirms the kit is not merely a licensed retool using Dragon’s molds; the sprues themselves are identical original Dragon components. It is also obvious that Dragon developed this M113 kit based on the tooling of their M752 model. I even suspect Dragon collateralized a stockpile of unsold kits to Zhiji Model, who then repackaged them and released the line under the FOREART brand.
When opening the kit, you will find a modest number of plastic sprues, with duplicate copies of Sprue D, E and F included. Compared with the original Dragon No.3608 kit, this reboxed version omits 25 flexible rubber stowage bags but adds a single 3D-printed figure as a new extra.
Dragon’s injection molding quality is generally reliable. Apart from a handful of tiny parts, there are no obvious flash or short-shot molding defects across the whole set. This kit, however, belongs to Dragon’s later-stage SMART KIT range, and the brand did not invest much effort into refining this release. While the model omits an engine assembly, it features a relatively complete interior layout. It comes with a one-piece hull base and link-and-length track segments, partially made of soft rubber. There are no clear transparent parts, only a small sheet of photo-etched metal accessories. The decals are identical to those of the original Dragon release, with the only difference being the brand logo printed on them.
A key advantage of the SMART KIT line is simpler assembly, though this is achieved by compromising some fine detail accuracy.
As mentioned earlier, this kit was developed based on Dragon’s M752 mold, so modelers need to cut and modify the hull bottom themselves during building. It is rather disappointing that Dragon turned out to be the last manufacturer to release an M113 kit, yet the final product is merely mediocre and fails to stand as the definitive version of this subject.
To sum up, FOREART’s reboxed release uses unaltered original Dragon sprues. It is puzzling why the rubber stowage bags were removed, as the side-mounted stowage racks are a prominent signature feature of Israeli M113 vehicles. As a relatively recent mold overall, the kit’s basic quality is acceptable, though its overall detail level is unremarkable. Its biggest merit lies in its far more affordable price tag versus original Dragon releases. It is priced considerably lower than the definitive AFV Club kit, and even cheaper than offerings from Academy and Tamiya. It remains to be seen whether FOREART will develop further unique variants from Dragon’s legacy molds. Simply reworking the rubber tracks and soft stowage bags into hard plastic parts would, in my opinion, mark a major improvement.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Author: PuppyAnthony
https://www.9imx.com/scalemodels/afv_models/7546/