Miniscale Depot

The Miniscale Depot series is a line of figures from Sirius (シリウス), with a subtitle stating that the kits were produced by Tristar Japan. The relationship between Sirius and Tristar (トライスター) is not very clear to me, but the Tristar parent company is based out of Hong Kong, and deals primarily in 1/35 WWII German injection kits, while the Japanese branch seems to include a line of 1/72 resin figures, armor, detail sets, and various hobby tools (sometimes exclusively under the Sirius brand name). I'm not sure if Tristar Japan is still in business, as the URL for their website does not exist any more.

Miniscale Depot figures were available sporadically in limited runs, and rather expensive at ¥1260 a set (for 3-5 figures). I was fortunate enough to pick up a few sets at a good discount from HLJ earlier this month.

Their earlier sets with seated tankers can be seen elsewhere, so I won't bother taking pictures of them. The newer releases seem to be distributed by Trident (トライデント) according to the back of the header card. Figures from some of their newer sets are shown below. The three figures on the left are from the German Veteran Infantry, 1944 set (72020), while the six figures to the right are from the German 352 Infantry Division sets (72021, 72022).

There was very little flash on the figures. Some light scraping with a scalpel took off what little there was. Assembly is required, with the weapon arm typically needing to be attached.

The figures are well proportioned, if a bit static, but seem to be a bit on the short side. I'm not going to bother with commentary on their uniforms other than to say that to me, they look the part of German soldiers for the period they are supposed to represent.

The only problem I had with the set is with the last figure on the right. The left hand for the figure is a separate piece, and beautifully sculpted. However...

Reminded me of Bill the Galactic Hero.