Best UV Protection for Figures: What to Look For
This is a working guide to best UV protection for figures for new collectors: what the terms mean in practice, where the money goes, and which details are worth paying attention to.
Polystone Care in Three Rules
Support the base, never lift by the head or an arm, and never reach for a solvent when a stain appears. Polystone is brittle under point impact and slightly porous, so handling and cleaning decide how a piece looks in five years far more than the initial paint job does.
Carton Sizes That Fit
A 32 cm piece such as the ASH 1/4-scale polystone bust needs an inner carton near 40 × 30 × 30 cm and an outer near 50 × 40 × 40 cm. The 34 cm LIN YUANZHE 1/4-scale articulated bust with extended armour wants 42 × 32 × 32 cm inside and 52 × 42 × 42 cm outside, plus 4 cm per side if the panels are posed open rather than closed.
Orientation and the Shake Test
Ship upright, base down; on its side the full mass rests on the thinnest casting, exactly where breaks start. Close, lift 5 cm, set down and shake two seconds — any rattle means packing is not finished. Tape with the H-method and label fragile on at least three faces, then photograph the sealed box beside a scale.
Two-Box Dimensions
| Piece | Inner carton | Outer carton |
|---|---|---|
| ASH 1/4-scale polystone bust | 40 × 30 × 30 cm | 50 × 40 × 40 cm |
| LIN YUANZHE 1/4-scale articulated bust | 42 × 32 × 32 cm | 52 × 42 × 42 cm |
Original Carton vs Generic Wrap
Moulded foam is cut to one silhouette and distributes shock across the whole casting. Generic bubble wrap concentrates force at the weakest point. If you still have the original carton, use it; otherwise reproduce the two-box method above rather than wrapping the piece in a single layer.
Judge a piece by three numbers — material, scale and edition size — then by the finish. Everything else is decoration.