Best UV Protection for Figures: What to Look For
Everything below is written for new collectors who are weighing best UV protection for figures — the numbers, the trade-offs and the details that decide whether the piece still looks right three years in.
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.
The short version: material and edition size set the ceiling, finish sets the day-to-day impression, and display decides how much of that you actually see.